WHO WAS THE PRISONER?
Foreword;
The origin of this poem is based on correspondence between an obscure eccentric who liked to write to famous people & ask them to be his Pen Pal, and one of the 20th Century's most notorious prisoners. Hated by millions though revered as a Living God by his devotees, the Prisoner had undergone an "Environmental Awakening" whilst in jail, thereafter devoting all his energies to that Cause.
Later this Eccentric had many of his letters collected & published in facsimile. When I read this book, one particular letter stood out for me. I could hear strong music playing in the powerful rhythms of the prose. No doubt about it, it might have been the ragged ramblings of an uneducated criminal,
but it was Poetry!
I understood then how the Prisoner had been able to inspire his Followers with his Words to go on to commit acts that shocked the World.
The words here are pretty much as was written,
with only some minimal editing & layout work on my part
to bring out the Poetic Form.
Can you guess who the Prisoner was?
(Answer at the end of today's Sermon)
Words from a Prison Pen Pal
Twenty years ago
they let me out of jail for awhile
and I saw that the Earth was dying.
*
I went out into the Forest
and I cried because
I could see that the trees
were dying.
*
And I went out into the Desert
and I cried again,
because I could see
that even the Desert was dying.
*
And I went down by the shore
and I cried once more
because I could see
that the Sea was dying.
*
Four times I cried
and now I will cry no more.
*
And when the Whales beached themselves
I seen what they was trying to say
to us. They were saying;
"Look! The water's getting so bad
we can't live in it anymore!"
Even a Dog has got the sense
not to shit in it's own water
but not us dumb humans.
So People protest march and millions of dollars
get spent to "Save the Whales"
and still not a Whale been saved yet.
People say I'm crazy..that I must be
from another planet.
So how come I'm the only one
who seems to care for the Earth?
*
Everyone says they care,
but it's just a $1.95 donation to guilt.
Today's poem was based on the prison letters of the late
Charles Manson, notorious 60's Cult Leader & Mass Murderer.
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The Reverend Hellfire is a practised Performance Poet,
Vocalist/Lyricist for primitivist alt/pop ensemble, "The Tapeloops"
and an Ordained Minister of the Church of Spiritual Humanism.
Cash only.
***
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