Dear Friend,
Prolific and accomplished playwright, poet, and journalist Larry Stromberg has recently started recording commentaries with Prison Radio. And he’s asking for our help publishing his most recent play.
While incarcerated at SCI Coal Township, Grateford, and Pheonix, Larry has written, acted, and directed over sixty plays for the prison’s general population, Lifers Incorporated, Mental Health Awareness Month, Drug and Alcohol Awareness Month, the Christian Community, and for “Let’s Circle Up!” a restorative justice program at SCI Phoenix. Larry’s play “I’m Here for You” won a PEN AMERICA award in the drama category in 2019. Larry’s film “Spiritual Warfare” is available on YouTube. His plays, screenplays, poems, and journalistic work are also available online. A biography of Larry’s life, called “Death by Incarceration” was published in 2017.
Larry often writes evocatively about his experiences of remorse, hope, and desperation while facing life without the possibility of parole. In his most recent commentary, an excerpt from his play “Life Behind a Razor Wire” he bravely shared about the abuse he endured as a child, his struggles with forgiveness, and his dreams.
He read, “There’s one thing I dream about most now. When I was a child with my mom and dad, my brothers and sister at the beach, and the dog is catching a Frisbee along the beach. And then with my wife and kids when we were happy. And the dog is catching the Frisbee along the beach. A place I can never get back to, a place I can only dream about. So I live in my dreams and my fantasies. Now I don’t, I don’t deserve a second chance. I can’t forgive myself. I am the unforgiven.”
LISTEN HERE: “Life Behind a Razor Wire”
Besides vulnerably sharing his struggles and triumphs, Larry supports other prisoners as a certified Peer Support Specialist. He is a “Let’s Circle Up” Restorative Justice facilitator, an Education for Ministry student, and a hospice worker. He often accompanies fellow prisoners through the end of their lives, easing their transitions in whatever way he can. In his first commentary with Prison Radio, he read the following poem about his friend Art, who died in 2022 at SCI Phoenix.
What a Day
No one ever knew Art was sick with cancer
Deteriorating into a shell of himself
A man who cared for others as they lay there in their deathbeds while he skirted his own
Court dates promised a chance of redemption
The hope to be with loved ones during his last days
Instead of the barbed wires and concrete
His compassionate release shot down to the ground: victim opposition
while the accomplishments in the cage didn’t matter.
Consequences remain
Skin and bones
Slow, agonizing breathes
Deep remorse in his heart
Tears flowing from his bloodshot eyes
Hopelessness overwhelming the soul
The Great Beyond calls
All the pain
Sickness
And incarceration
Is over for good.
What a day, Art
Listen to more of Larry’s Poems Here
Larry told us that his relationship with writing has helped him cope with the immense pain of his death by incarceration sentence. And it helps us, on the outside, begin to understand the psychological weight of life behind bars. Larry’s writing delves deep within his psyche and bears witness to the struggles of his community. We are so excited to work with and support him in bringing his plays, poems, and essays to Prison Radio’s network.
Larry is asking for our help publishing his newest play “Life Behind the Razor Wire” on Amazon. He has worked on the play for years and is thrilled with the draft he recently completed. If you have any experience with self-publishing, you can write Larry at Smart Communications/PADOC, Larry Stromberg/DG6379, SCI Phoenix, PO Box 33028, St Petersburg, Florida 33733.
In solidarity,
Madeleine Matz