Poetic Justice – I’m Tired (Inmate Poetry by Dean Grayson)

I’m Tired (Inmate Poetry by Dean Grayson)

Tired…
I’m tired…
tired of getting’ up early in the mornin’ to go eat a meal there
there’s usually not enough
Half the time havin’ to beg the kitchin’ worker for that
Then, being rushed to eat food by guards that shout at you to
leave once you’ve sat down to eat…
Get out!
I’m tired…
Tired of walkin’ to the chapel to find spiritual release
Being asked by a guard where are you going…
For the thousandth time
Even though we’re surrounded by three fences and barbed wire
I’m tired…
Tired of sayin’, yes sir, no sir, yes ma’am, no ma’am to staff
Them lookin’ down their noses at me as if I were a piece of


Shit that doesn’t even deserve to speak to them…at all
Let alone be on the face of this Earth
I’m tired…
Tired of speakin’ to inmates only to be confronted with lies,
Gossip, conversation that is totally irrelevant to this environment
Shunned because I choose the path of humility to at least…
Change a part of me that got me here in the first place
I’m tired…
Lookin’ outward over the trees
Toward the sky, observing the beauty,
Splendors of heaven here on Earth…
Someone says
There’s a graveyard right over there for convicts whose families
Never came to get them after they died…
It’s called potters field
And I’m still tired…..

Dean Grayson 290628
Richland Dorm A 255
Lee Corr. Inst.
990 Wisacky Hwy
Bishopville, SC 29010