Sweet

I think some of the best poetry is most likely written in prison. You are in a place where you have deep emotion, either anger, sadness, fear, maybe to some even joy. A musician, Buddy Tabor would go into prisons and perform his music for the inmates. With the inmates approval, he collected and published some of the poetry they had been writing. Out of the works I have had the chance to read, this is by far my favorite and I wanted to share it with y'all. I love the spirit behind it, that even though it is a dreadful experience to be in the pit of a prison cell this person is not letting it ruin his life or his spirit. He is surviving, not letting the conditions crumble him, but yet using them to create.

The steel has not made me cold

Nor the stone made me hard

Nor the gray made me colorless.

The dopefiends have not made me scandalous

Nor the cops made me hateful

Nor the hateful made me heartless.

The food has not killed my appetite

Nor sexlessness killed my desire

Nor lifelessness killed my thirst

They gave me no water for my garden,

Gave me sand for seeds,

And I grew flowers

And low fruit,

Enough to color the walls

And make stale rice

Taste sweet.