Long Quentin Poems

Dedicated to the 2000 National College Football Champions, the Oklahoma Sooners 

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Over fifty years, boy and man, I’ve been a Sooners fan
Watched and reveled in their glories, every one;
But there’s no more glorious “Sooner Magic”...

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This is a simple ode,
To a soap opera from some time ago.
It was called Dark Shadows.
And it’s still one of my favorite shows.

It aired from 1966 to 1971.
Watching the show was a lot of fun,
On...

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In my twelve years in Quentin my warden gave to me
- A month in solitary

In my twelve years in Quentin my warden gave to me
- Two tubes of KY
- And a month in solitary

In my...

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The first thing I remember hearing 
Was a car radio with a country song playing
A man singing while my mom was steering 
A song about heartache and pain
That’s the day the good boy in me...

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My soul understood Lynyrd Skynyrd
Like Ronnie I had monkeys to
Just simple boys chasing life’s joys
With our needles playing our blues

My soul understood Pink Floyd
For I have lived inside the wall
Comfortably numb and ignorantly dumb
Living my...

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Tom's Cat Tom
 by Joan Donnelly Ellis (intended as a picture story book for children)

Some cats are really ugly and others are really cute, like mine, Bart. Bart can be bad though. He is sometimes...

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Friendless 




I noticed my address book,
So decided to take a look,

Starting at the beginning under A,
Everyone on this page has gone away,

Turning to the next page under B,
Totally blank no one here to see,

Must be...

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Zealots are totally incapable of any emotion other than rage. It is an unalterable law that people who claim to care about the human race are utterly indifferent to the sufferings of individuals.
— Quentin Crisp

ZEALOTS

The...

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Not everyone has houses or lands, gold or silver, stocks or bonds, IRA’S or CD’S, Cars or cash, insurance policies, etc. But that does not mean we have nothing to leave behind when we depart...

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A robot known as Robbie
Well he came to stay at home with me
And during his vacation
He began to show frustration

For he saw to his dismay 
Piles of dust hidden away
Beneath the beds 
  ...

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In a world of make believe
Inside my T.V. screen
I was mesmerized by a show,
The likes I'd never seen.

Barnabas, Quentin and Angelique;
Inhabitants of Collinsport, Maine
Lived a life like no others.
To miss it caused me pain.

This tale...

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It was Clark Gable, who posed the question,
“Oh, Mr., Faulkner…do you write?”
Indeed, Mr. Gable, Faulkner wrote…
About that postage stamp of native soil
In many books and stories did his typewriter toil
regaling about that mythical place he...

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Find xanthium' squeeze in a sigh  
asking a righteous void, hear my entreat
hand to heart, in a beggar's sky
not just for myself,
not just for why...
  
Can a heart devoid of hope
seek to find...

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It is the third of June at San Quentin in 1955.
A death row inmate will soon no longer be alive.
She has been dubbed “Bloody Babs” by the local press.
Barbara Graham is a convicted murderess.
For killing...

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Dear depressed girlfriend 
Thank you for your note 
He's obviously the boyfriend of the year
So he's going to get my vote . 

Your boyfriend is in prison 
After he robbed the local shopping mall
but he'd...

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Certain directors, expecting to see
Their names on the nominee slate,
Might have been shocked, as the rest of us were,
‘Cause omissions are cause for debate.

Kathryn and Quentin and Argo’s guy, Ben,
Were snubbed or forgotten or worse;
Rumors...

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One two three four five six seven

Not all children go to heaven

Right is right and bad is wrong

Jack fell down and broke his crown


One two  three Four  five six seven

School is out ...

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Old Stackhouse Joe
Had a lazy eye

Sunday morning choirboy
He could sing like a lark

He had a stiletto
He sharpened all the time

Stuck a pig
And called it bloody wine

Poker night at Joe’s
Always a fight

Smoking day old
Cigarettes he’d bought...

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Because of greed, I decided to kill.
I thought I was in the victim's Will.
But he didn't leave me anything, not one dime.
Now I'm rotting in prison because of my crime.
When I got nothing, it upset...

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"Stars"
I do not know how big they are,
But I can see them twinkle from afar.
Their shape to me is yet unknown,
Still I can see them where ever I go.

Way high up there in the night...

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