If you’ve read Poems Written by Inmates – Thomas Alexander Porter part 1 part 2, and part 3 and you’d like to read more, then this is the place. Thomas sent me two more poems, straight from his soul, and more are on their way. This is his voice to the world. Find below the newest creations by this wordsmith: To my Dearest Old Friends and A Conversation with Death.
To my Dearest Old Friends
Oh to my dearest old friends
Though many of you are new and some as old as I can’t remember
We are together again
Your covers are off the backs of your beautiful pages
And those pages may seem like the color of yellowish grass
I love you nevertheless
I love you for the words written inside you
that freed me from the hell I had to endure with a thought of an end that was my demise,
I love you for the weight you give
when I’m striving to keep this Grizzly Bear body in shape,
I am sorry I had to separate many of your friends and mine
but I thought of it like this My Beautiful Books,
we are on a new journey
and will meet new friends
and through it, you all will keep me near the sanity I need
to survive whatever the next 2 years hold
I Love You, Dearest Books
A Conversation with Death
Death!
Can you tell me, when did you become so popular?
Many have chosen you, not realizing that you are the end,
the darkness, the reason the reel of Life runs no more,
Death!
When did you convey to the people that
by giving into depression you’ve become the healthy alternative?
I’ve survived being sentenced to death
living within the possibility of my own demise
for the name of someone else’s form of justice
And now that I’ve escaped your cold embrace
Death, I thought I was safe from you among the Living,
But No, you’ve found a way to be on the minds of dudes
that have a chance to return to their Families, Loved ones, children etc…
Yet Death you seem to be the better choice for so many
Why?
Let me ask you, Death
Why! is it when these same men had their freedom
they never thought about killing themselves?
But now having to do the time they are sentenced to,
Boxed in with their own thoughts and emotions,
You, Death, come up, I’ve noticed, in words and thoughts like “I’m going to commit suicide,”
“kill myself,” “I’m depressed,” “I can’t take it anymore,”
“No one loves me,” “she is a bitch and I’ll make her sorry by killing myself, I’ll make them all sorry,”
Death, how did you create a culture of people looking towards you for escape?
I’ve never seen so many line up for your reward of fatality,
He Answers Me, It’s Because I am Death!
Thank you for stopping by. If you liked Thomas poems or you’d like to know more about him, please let me know in the comments 🙂
It’s amazing that when our lives change dramatically, how we often learn to look at life and the experience of living differently.
It’s a shame that we often do not appreciate the lives we have until they are taken away from us.
Thomas’s words are of someone who has spent considerable time reflecting upon the experience that life is, and I applaud him for the insights he has gained. It seems a shame to keep someone locked away when they have a renewed respect for, and understanding of, life. However, it could be true that the experience of being locked up is the only way that he was able to come to this new appreciation of life? Who knows?
I wish Thomas, and all the others like him, all the best!
Hi Andrew,
Thank you for your comment! Yes, I also think it’s a shame that he’s locked away for so long (he now received 2 life sentences and 28 years …) when it is clear that he has a renewed respect for and understanding of life. It is clear that the man he is now is not the man he was 15 years ago … It is heartbreaking how the justice system is so focused on destroying lives instead of recognizing the rehabilitation that some men achieve.
Thomas told me that even though he was taken off death row, he is still condemned to die in prison, it’s just a slower death.
It’s a shame he shot an officer in the head and proceeded to execute him as he laid on the ground dying amongst many of his countless other crimes. He may not be on death row anymore but a life sentence and poems hardly makeup for the evil and hurt he has brought into the world.
Yes, he did a terrible thing and nothing in the world will ever make up for that. You can’t make up for the loss of a human life. A life sentence is no laughing matter either, it is like a death sentence, only slower…
Of course, the poems will not make up for what he did, but if they show one thing it is at least that he is not the man he was 15 years ago. No one is.
I am very sorry for the victim’s family. I have been a victim of crimes and I know what it’s like to go through loss, but I also know that people can redeem themselves, and I refuse to spend my life in anger and a desire for revenge. It won’t change things or bring anyone back and in the end, it would only hurt me more.
I met Thomas last year, as the man he is today. However, I cannot speak for him. If you want, you can tell him this via jpay.com, a prisoner emailing service.
There’s an obvious sombre tone in his poems that makes it heavy to read. We may not know him or even experience what he is going through, but he allowed us to see it and I think that’s beautiful.
Being on a death row is scary. To know your own life is due for its expiration, unwillingly. He shared a great perspective. Of how men (or women) battle with their inner thoughts – in this case, death.
Wishing him the best and to continue writing. They are great.
Cheers.
SAM
Hi SAM,
True, even without knowing him or what he’s going through, he allows us to see it. He is very good at conveying his deepest emotions through the written word.
Thanks for your comment!
Hi, Lila!
Truth be told these poems make me think about life and the sense it makes sometimes…we may be locked up even when we are free people, don’t you agree? I’ve tried to write my soul out myself but have never reached Thomas’s level of introspective analysis.
I think it was a great idea to share his poems with the world!
Thank you and keep safe!
Hi Antonio,
Good point, even when we are free we may find ourselves locked up in some ways, although we still have more freedom to move around and exercise our will.
Hi Lila,
Such an inspirational post.
Truth be told poems like a conversation with death make one to think about life and the sense it makes sometimes.
Anyone may be locked up even when they think that they are free people, so many persons have tried to write their soul out but have never reached Thomas’s level of introspective analysis.
Everyone should learn to appreciate the lives they have not until they are taken away from them.
Thomas’s words are of someone who has spent considerable time reflecting upon the experience that life is, and should be applauded for the insights he has gained.
Thanks
Cheers!