On a trip to Atlanta nearly two years ago, I was involved in a protest downtown. The jest of the story is this: I was arrested, taken to jail, and put into solitary confinement. I was there for three days, and thought that I would go crazy. My real name is kept hidden, as I have already filed suit against the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia for the treatment I recieved, and have since, settled out of court. This poem, however, is the result of 3 days in solitary darkness. It just makes you wonder what those people in jail for years on end must experience. What do those people in solitary for two weeks go through?
Parchman Farm Jesus by George Cuhlane
"The very time I thought I was los'
The dungeon shook an' the chain fell off.
You may hinder me here
But you cannot there
'Cause God in his heaven
Goin' to answer prayer
I be waitin for you jesus lord
I be waitin for you jesus
I be waitin for you jesus lord
I be waitin for you jesus."
I spent my days
workin and dyin
In the ward
the invalids
they ain't workin
just dyin
hurtin
and dyin
and waitin for jesus
On block C
the negroes
spend their days
workin and singin
singin and dyin
and waitin for jesus.
102 degrees outside
gonna be hotter in here
ain't got enough money to buy a canteen
so right now
can't get no water
all the people on the outside
writin letters to their congressmen
bout how sinners shouldn't live in luxury
shouldn't get no color TVS
well they ain't never been to Parchman.
Down in the delta
there's people been forgotten
where hell meets earth
its hotter than the blazes
a fire and damnation
and I ain't got no tv
just an 8 by 10
sweat
blood
and a bible
I work in a field
all day
with the negroes
they're singin their songs
and praisin their god
and you canāt help but wanna
praise something too.
So now I'm just workin
workin and dyin
and waitin
for jesus
104 today.
no fans
not enough water
and we're bakin
so we go on hunger strike
and there ain't much they can do
to stop us
ain't nothing else
they can take away
so they take away
my bible
and they throw me in the hole.
10 days
in the hole
and there's no sunlight
so at least
im not bakin
blind but I'm not bakin
guard comes by
to give me bread and water
says that I'll be in the hole
til jesus come
bread and water
another day
of bread and water
its been three days
guard opens the slit in the door
to slide in my bread and water
light from outside
seers my eyes
been four days
hallucination can't be far from here
bread is the body of christ
strength through the body of christ
bread is the body of christ
matthew 26 26
this is my body
this is my bread
and my body
body of chrsit
gotta keep my eyes open
cause there might be
a second coming for me
right here
in the darkness
but for me
there is no strength
no salvation
cause jesus died in Parchman
my wife pulled the trigger
years ago
the last supper
and now a second crucifixion
and jesus died
this is the second crucifixion
jesus died in parchman
day 6
no more bread
only water
twenty years ago
I cursed god
they all told me
pray to jesus and never tire
told me
have faith in the lord
cause he works in mysterious ways
keep on prayin to jesus
cause he's gonna make all the pain go away
so I prayed
but the pain kept on comin
I prayed for seven years
til they let that bastard outta jail
then I killed him.
the judge told me
killin him
wasn't gonna bring my wife back
told me
that my wife
killed herself
pulled the trigger
told me
that god
woulda handled him
well I prayed to jesus
and I know my wife prayed to jesus
and she still went crazy
hell I couldnāt touch my own wife
of eight years
when we lay in bed at night
cause she had flashbacks
think I was him
think I was rapin her.
well maybe god woulda handled him
maybe I coulda kept prayin to jesus
but was jesus gonna stop him from
rapin more women
how many other times he done it
and just not got caught
so I passed my own judgement
and now I await the judgement of my own god
and I'll face my maker
I'm just waitin for the day
cause I ain't got much more to do -
sittin here in this whole -
than die a little every day
waitin for jesus
I'm dying
and waitin for jesus
them negroes
got them songs
that just don't leave your mind
when I'm half unconscious
and the day blends into night
no bread or water
no guiding light
I just start hummin
cause it sounds like something
I wanna believe
"The very time I thought I was los'
The dungeon shook an' the chain fell off.
You may hinder me here
But you cannot there
'Cause God in his heaven
Goin' to answer prayer
I be waitin for you jesus lord
I be waitin for you jesus
I be waitin for you jesus lord
I be waitin for you jesus."
Just workin
and dyin
and waitin for you jesus.
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