Hey everybody, this is Steven here again in Jackson, Michigan. Got this poem that’s dedicated to the very first time I ever did theater for the Prisoner Creative Arts Project [PCAP] in Michigan – University of Michigan, I should say, so. This is dedicated to my very first class, to some special friends. So, there may be some inside jokes you may not understand. Just go with it. “PCAP Theater” poem.
I do.
I do love you and you and you and you and you too,
And Ashley Lucas, and yeah, Phil too,
In our milieu of theatrics, we aspire to ingratiate ourselves into,
PCAP 101 teaches the basics of being on one.
A worldwide tour would be cool.
I wish we were on one.
That joke might have been a dumb one,
But y’all know why I stay on one.
And here at cotton, we blend in
Because theater is the blend within,
Creating the fabric of our lives.
We’re just the beneficiaries, guys.
Yeah, we all benefit from our amalgamation,
But we, under incarceration,
Receive blessings beyond natural generation.
Y’all are like an angel nation.
In fact, God told me your wings are ready for fabrication.
Now it’s time for personalization.
Damn the warning of over familiarization.
Adam, the Georgia peach, taught me to scream at children at will,
Lke Jack Black on speed pills
And Sam, or bad Brad, who actually reminds me of my dad,
Who could ever bully be quite like him?
Then we got Brent, my Jewish friend,
So, she’s kind of like my nearest kin or a kitten.
No, I was the kitten, and she kept rolling, rolling, rolling
Like she was dancing for freedom.
Rolling cigarettes to smoke them,
Is what I thought Sarah did as a hobby,
But then I learned her voice is as unique is her career choice.
Sarah, since you’re tech savvy,
Don’t let everybody forget about me.
Izza aggressively beat me
And whoosh with her demonstrative gestures.
But I guess her aggression got the best of her
When she drank that salsa and missed class the day after.
Should have stuck with pizza, Izza the Rizza.
Elevator, your tenacity sparked the team to level up
Like we shot up on an elevator.
Hannah never gave up the pole position.
You’re a big booty for life, Boston;
We couldn’t knock you out.
Your rhythm was awesome.
Awesome, like Miles smiles;
They remind me of when I was called Cheeze
With a Z for smoking too much weed,
And I smiled like I was in the grips of insanity.
So, George, are you ever going to pay back that cheese?
Casey.
Casey, Casey, Casey,
You remind me of the queen bee with bad crochet technique,
According to what you told me,
That you break a leg when it comes to theatrical prowess,
Like a lioness prowling the stage ready to slay.
And I joke, but I don’t play.
I don’t play when I praise,
When I praise God, I do aloud.
When I praise those sent by God, I open my heart
To give you my all
In hopes to speak volumes of how you make me proud.
Who’s last?
I say it’s the best for last, but she’s never least to me,
Last, but not least, Leah, never give up.
You’re more than enough.
Be a convict of sureness.
Be assured of this,
You’re someone I’ll sure miss guys.
I have true appreciative love for what she does.
Yeah, you Leah.
Why?
Because some people just get people.
They like my roles, but I can’t give you away,
So, I’ll stay a bachelor today and pray away thorns,
To cultivate the bud,
To see a rose garden bloom despite a future that looks doomed.
See, I have no conceivable path to freedom,
And yet she helps me feel free from the doldrums of eternal incarceration,
As if spellbound by an incantation.
Hopelessness and loneliness.
You help me face them.
They are fears, but sometimes they’re there.
And you help me erase them.
In fact, I get grace from the whole crew.
But some love just hits different though my PCAP boo’s
And I implore you to find this different love too.
Go blue, go blue, go blue, go blue.
PCAP is truth,
But this love I refer to is a love that will carry you through.
So, erase any negative presuppositions about Christians
And learn Jesus’s truth.
It can even carry you through a life sentence or two.
Thank you for me as the cross I bear, as I’m bearing my heart to you.
So thank you PCAP theater group.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.
