I think it’s important that we go out of our way to make friends that come from places we don’t understand, it’s how we grow. I’ve made it an effort to befriend people that get a fearful reaction from me. No, I’m not saying to go against your gut instinct but once you get to the point that you can distinguish learned fear from your intuition, well you should test that learned fear every chance you get.
I started writing an inmate thinking I’d have a new perspective to offer him, that I could help in some way. As I let my guard down more and more, I realized I was going to learn just as much from him as he could from me.
Mental Prison
There are times that I wonder
if you’re still more imprisoned by your mind
then you are the bars they lock you behind.
We can both agree that everything ultimately
comes down to perception
but we use that knowing in different ways –
yours to justify, mine to understand.
When you ask me if I trust you,
I now only trust what you told me –
people will tell you
exactly what they want you to hear.
You never wanted me to hear the truth, that’s okay.
I always see it, it always comes out.
I don’t believe that lies are always intentional.
I think in the same way we can breathe in a silent killer,
mixed with seemingly ordinary-looking air,
we can breathe out dishonesty,
disguised even to us as the truth.
It took me years
to honestly know myself.
Honestly, that’s a lie,
I don’t fully know myself – not yet.
It took me years
to learn how to tell
when I need to listen to myself
to whatever is beneath the noise.
When I asked you
if you think you’re ever unintentional
about how sexually you come across
you answered quickly, no time to consider.
I want you to consider that
my parting gift to you.
There are times that I wonder
if I related to you so well
because we were both imprisoned for so long,
mine just not necessarily in a cell.
Much love, until next time.
Madeline May I... 