We had a heart-to-heart talk which I had been praying for. The Holy Spirit was definitely in that visiting room!
Today my mom came up to visit me. I hadn't seen her in about five months. Normally she comes up here with someone else, either my father or my grandma. Today she came by herself.
We had a heart-to-heart talk which I had been praying for. The Holy Spirit was definitely in that visiting room!
0 Comments
Today is my birthday. I'm 41 years old. I woke up in prison.
The first sound I heard was the officer unlocking the door at 6:00a.m. Then the room light partially blinded me when it came on. That brought me up. There was no rush because chow was still over 30 minutes away, so I had time to examine my thoughts. Foremost on my mind was deciding who I'd call, my girlfriend or my mom. My girlfriend and I got into an argument last month that I still haven't fully recovered from. My feelings were hurt, but I'm not ready to throw in the towel. This relationship is a blessing. It's an opportunity for me to feel deep emotions, an opportunity most prisoners don't have. It's a test at times, but it's one I prayed for. I just get down on myself because I wish I could be giving much more. There is still no guarantee of when I'm coming home. After three years, it takes a special woman to still leave the porch light on. I'm blessed. Guess I know who I'll call... Today I heard something heartbreaking. One of the ladies at work saw a man outside our classroom walking in circles. After fifteen minutes of watching him she grew concerned. She didn't know if he was just loitering or stalking, and in prison every security concern is justifiable. She picked up the phone in the classroom and called the closest officer station to ask someone to approach him.
Fifteen minutes later the officer came into our classroom and told us what had happened when he approached the man. It was not what anyone expected. When questioned about why he was loitering outside the classroom, the elderly man responded, "I'm just waiting for my mom to pick me up. She should be here any second." Obviously, the officer's whole approach to the man changed after hearing those words. It was clear that the man was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's or dementia. The officer kindly redirected the man to another area of the prison where he could "wait for his mom to pick him up" without being disturbed by others, and without calling unwanted security attention to himself. When I heard that story my heart broke. That man should be in a mental hospital. Last night I woke up in the middle of a hailstorm. It was 1:24am. I had been sound asleep when hail started pelting the little window. It was a light rattle at first so I tried to ignore it. AFter a few minutes though, my curiosity dragged me out of bed. Hail rarely happens along coastal California!
But just after I hopped out the bunk and approached the window, the storm intensified. It sounded like a bunch of kids suddenly decided to throw buckets of rocks at our windows. I jumped back thinking my window might bust. The hail was coming down so hard I could hear it clattering on the roof too. Just as I jumped back onto my bunk I saw lightning and heard an instant boom of thunder. I yelped, then crossed my fingers and hoped my neighbors in the cellblock hadn't heard me. When morning came and we all walked to chow, the hailstorm was all everybody was talking about. |
AuthorPaul Pommells has been an inmate of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for more than twenty years, and has learned much about himself, his fellow inmates, and where one can find the hope and power to change. Poetry Corner
Paul and other inmates & friends bare their souls in words here.
Archives
November 2016
Categories |