UNREST IN PIECES
Alone in a corner, dark, quiet, still;
Shadows invade, unidentifiable shapes;
Everything is dead, nothing more to kill;
The plaintive cry for help barely escapes.
Left, right, it is almost always wrong;
Up, down, somersaults across the middle;
Zombies collide, crushed by the throng;
Low–dive, high-five, puddle of piddle.
Head first into a newly discovered wall;
Brain busted, no one seems to notice;
Chest cracked, will the muscles now stall;
Or will there be prolonged insignificance.
Maybe there is life on a parallel plane;
Hearts and minds that actually operate;
Hide and seek is the nature of this game;
Around and about, a tragic mistake.
Who exactly am I to you or you to me,
Does it matter what is done or said
Does acknowledgement validate reality;
Or are we, in fact truly dead.
Jack Alderman
Read further poems and letters
(pdf, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
|
|
LETTER TO SIMONE SANDELSON
March 3 2006
It is beneficial that you understand my position in the courts. I am amazed at how easily so many abandon principle.
There is no juncture where it is wrong to be right. To me you establish a value system and commit to honouring it. You are apt to fail but that does not distort or diminish those standards.
A few weeks after my arrest a 'deal' was proffered. It was instantly rejected. I was to plead guilty as an accomplice to the murder. There would be a ten year sentence, five to serve, five to be probated ,"We will not oppose parole, you will not have to leave Chatham County, you can be free in twenty months.."
I looked directly into his eyes, it was the Chief Assistant District Attorney, he and I in a small conference room, across a table. My words flowed quietly," Bubsy, would you like 10 years in prison?"
" No Jackie, but I didn't kill anyone."
I stood up and extended my hand, . He was shocked, "Son, don't be a fool! This can be ugly and dangerous."
I was not sure what I would do, only what I would not do
Insanely, the next month I was again asked to accept a life sentence with parole in seven years, to drop the appeal.
This does not lessen my hatred of prison, it does not quiet my ache for freedom.
I have one simple rule regarding intrapersonal relationship: I do not do anything to cause me to be ashamed to look into a mirror.
My mother and father taught honesty. I must have missed the class on when you slice it and dice it so it fits conveniently into a circumstance.
Am I proud to have a fanatical stance? No, I am miserable, but I had no choice, Simone
I have had a dozen attorneys through the decades. I was bankrupt in two years, my folks in six.
The relevance? none, other than none of us had any experience
I was a boy Scout! No, not a saint. Not an angel. Not a murderer. |