Larry James Vassar #164717
Potosi Correctional Center
11593 State highway O
Mineral Point Missouri 63660
I have more than a passing interest in the struggle and how it effects prison life, whether bit be improvements in living conditions, resolutions for abuse and/or prisoner rehabilitation. I’m in my 23rd year of incarceration but the longevity does not decrease my love of life. I love everything about life, the joys, the struggles, the familiar, , the new, the hope of understanding some of life’s mysteries. I’m in administrative segregation, have been for three months and I’m at a prison that has the distinction of being the only prison in America and possible the world, that has its death row prisoners in all parts of the general population :they cell , eat, rec with general population prisoners. Potosi is about 40 miles south of Saint Louis in a VERY rural area, The prison, PCC, is so rural that it has only had 6 Black officers presents several problems-if you’d like, I could share some very interesting stories.
Since I am in ad seg and have no access to a typewriter, I will submit a poem everyone seems to like.
Goddess of the Ocean
You came into m life so suddenly it seems,
You took me through reality, then placed me in a dream.
I woke reaching for you only to find that you had gone.
You revealed to me your mystical charms and then left me all alone.
My mind was in a cloud high above the world,
Soaring like an eagle because you were my special girl.
I never thought a man like me could fall from just one glance,
But now I’m caught up so deeply cause I dared to take a chance
I thought I was the captain and ruler of my destiny
But I as a mere tow-a -way on a lost and lonely sea,
My heart was shipwrecked on a dark and desolate land
I had no will, no future, not even a simple plan,
My soul was wondering with no course or direction
Seeking for warmth, shelter, or just any kind of protection,
It’s so strange how you entered my life when there was no open door
But then I saw you coming from off a distant shore.
I tried to introduce myself and tell you why I was there,
But you placed your hands on my lips and whispered you didn’t care.
You said you already knew me fro you had watched for many -a –day,
You knew my name, my past and the troubles that caused me to stray
I never dreamt someone like you could care for me so much
But you erased all my doubts with your smile and intimate touch.
I thought you’d always be with me and I forever you man
But the only thing you left me were our footprints I the sand
I try to remember the things you taught me about life and what it will unfold
But the only thing that comes to focus is the woman I long to hold.
Now my mind tells me its all a dream, made real my confused emotions
But my heart says that you’re out there, somewhere,
My lady, my Queen, My Goddess of the Ocean
