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Because San Quentin Killed Two More Today 

April 26, 2022 by San Quentin News Contributor

By Ed “Foots” Lipman 

They wrapped Big Fran in plaster 

and put him on a bed 

to heal & to watch 

each approaching stranger 

with dangerous eyes … 

The cops assigned 

to guard his door 

can’t understand 

that what’s become 

to past to them 

can be heard breathing 

softly on The Yard 

thru the eerie quiet 

of this prison hospital 

early in the dawn. 

But Frank knows better; 

he’s learned today 

is as much a part 

of yesterday as is tomorrow; 

and that there are 

no innocent bystanders 

except most little children 

and a few truly beautiful women, 

both of which 

are said to be 

in short supply 

inside San Quentin. 

(the soft rain blows in, 

he watches it pattern the sheets 

but cannot move to reach the window … ) 

The days will probably move 

in slow procession 

and sudden move 

arise to cause concern; 

but still he watches, 

knowing all the while 

that after all 

paranoia is nothing more 

than increased awareness. 

(from my window I sometimes 

see just his hands – 

they grip and flex 

like small animals, restless 

at the ends of his arms, waiting) 

— for Big Frank Tubach after surgery, SQ 1975

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Filed Under: Poetry, WALL CITY

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