by Jose “RawRaw” Robles, Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, CA
Playing Cops and Robbers
No more time it has expired
Daylight shines the night retired
No more waiting in the shadows
The light retreats it is that hour
Back and forth in night and day
Hide and seek the game we play
No more tag and now you’re it
Now it’s toe tag if you’re hit.
For My Momma
A mother’s love for her child
Unconditional true and pure
Even as a grown man with flaws
Her eyes look at me with tender patience
Because I will always be her child
Though she can no longer carry me in her arms
As when I was a little boy
Her prayers and kindness
Lift me up when I am down
She worries for me, she has never stopped
Caring nor given up hope
She still sees good in me
Though I’ve change into a grown man
Hardened and flawed
She looks past all my wrongs and mistakes
My loving mother; kind and unchanging
She still sees her cheerful little boy
The one she once knew.