My name is Lexter Almagro. I’m calling from Donovan State Prison. The title of the poem is called “Death Around the Corner.”
Got half my anger received and I’m overcome by self control. Replace my ignorance with the lightning.
The IQ may be able to break the mold or will not die young at the hands of a cop and never get to make your own like George Floyd.
I can’t breathe.
Will all of my dirty laundry be exposed, to rationalize his decree, actions and cold, or will I die at the hands of one of my own Black brothers as I attempt to make it home?
Will I be still with bullet holes? Or, will I die of natural causes or drown from water dripping from a facet or die behind bars from COVID-19?
Tattooed teardrop marked down my face to express the pain that I’ve been crying for.
Nothing in my past can be washed away.
But after the rain comes a brighter day as the sun rises to its highest peak.
I did not survive gang feuds and the brutality of the police just to come to the unsanitized prison and die from COVID-19.
I am dying to live while I’m living to die at this very moment, I see death around the corner.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.