The following poems were written by individuals incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, CA and Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, CA. Some of the authors are poetry and drama students from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) put on by Agustin Lira and Patricia Wells Solorzano. We invite you to receive with open hearts and minds the poetry of Tim Young.
Putting Mice Before Men
By Tim Young
On every channel, I have seen them grieve
They are seethingly at odds with U.C. Berkeley
Apparently, someone sought to uproot the trees
They pissed/they are peeved/
They squawk about preserving the trees
They squat/they refuse to leave/
They literally live in the trees
Life or limb they vow to protect the trees
They seek understanding/empathy
Meanwhile the State of California
Celebrates my wrongful conviction and intends to kill me!
From Death Row, I languish in disbelief,
Wishing I was just as cherished and esteemed
As one of the damn “Oak Trees!”
On every channel, I have seen them grieve
A blind man could see their hypocrisy;
For had “Cecil the Lion” been “Cecil the Negro”
His demise would not have been lionized
In fact, he’d be just one more nappy-headed
“Superpredator” that was “brought to a heel…”
I have seen them grieve…
Americans wept over the death of Harambe, the silver-back gorilla,
But never did they weep for the likes of:
Trayvon Martin, Laquan McDonald, Alton Sterling, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Akai Gurley, Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, Michael Brown, Kenneth Harding, Philando Castile, Alex Nieto, Mario Woods, or Tamir Rice!
For all my days, I have seen them,
Endeavoring to be green and save non-human things:
The Whales
The Beaches
The Dolphins
The Wetlands and Marshes
The Owls
The Ozone
Even Lab Rats and Rodents
The Condors
The Eagles
And yes, the precious Trees
It is an unconscionable sin
Putting mice before men,
But many have I seen
Treating pets better than human beings;
And though they’re quick to pamper “Fido”
They historically ignore the plight of the “Negro!”
