Wall

We hide in the shroud of the iridescent sun
That shields the entrance to our hidden cave
The place of our
Secret conclave

We hide in the cloud of the opalescent moon
That protects the portal of our concealed retreat
The site of our
Private meet

For security, we constructed the wall
Unbreakable, impenetrable
Built with strength so it will never fall

For protection, we erected the wall
Impassable, unconquerable
Built with strength so it will never fall

We hide in the rays of the fluorescent sun
That cloaks the opening to our hidden base
The location of our
Discreet place

We hide in the haze of the pearlescent moon
That covers the access to our concealed sect
The point of our
Illegal project

© 2011 hoodedstranger.com

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Wall

Before you all get excited, this 'Reveal' does not decide who has won the ultimate prize. I am still deciding on that and will announce the victor later. Choosing has been much harder than I first thought.

A few years ago whilst writing a song about being locked up in a prison, I realised I had no idea what that was really like...having never been arrested in my life (the trick is not getting caught!). So I thought about finding out by researching...not an easy thing to find out when none of your friends have been imprisoned. I decided I would write a collection of poems and songs about prison life since it was going to be a challenge. This challenge, or 'Project' was just for me and would probably never see the light of day.

At some point, I gave up as I just couldn't get enough detail to make any of the poems/lyrics feel right.

Then, by chance in January this year, I was surfing the internet, looking up a band I had heard of at a recent show and in the adverts next to the search engine, was a link to 'Prison Penpals'. I thought about that for a while and few weeks later decided to investigate. There are lots of websites full of prisoners wanting penpals...most are men looking for a woman...but one profile caught my eye.

This individual (whose name has to stay secret for now) was imprisoned in a US maximum security prison for murder. He was given life and no date for potential parole. So he is likely to be incarcerated for the majority of his life. He is in his mid-thirties and has been in prison for a few years already. I can't disclose anymore than that I'm afraid, other than the judge deemed him to be a risk and subsequently sentenced him without any parole terms.

I decided to write to him and explain about my 'project' and asked him if he would be interested in helping me. His prison penpal profile had mentioned he wrote poetry, so I was pretty sure he might help out, but I wasn't 100% sure, but I asked anyway as I had nothing to lose.

I sent him a very long letter and went into detail about what I wanted to achieve with the project and enclosed a few short stories, poems and lyrics I had written. I also mentioned that I am writing a fantasy novel, and sent him a synopsis of that along with the prologue.

I waited patiently for four weeks and then his response arrived.

He explained to me that he had himself, tried to write a series of poems but found the idea too hard when he sat down and really thought about what he had done, what his life had become, what wasted future he has etc. That said, he was willing to give it a go, because he liked what I wrote and the style and said he just needed some motivation...I was that motivation.

His letter included various poems he had written, not about prison life, but dark and sinister themes. He also included 10 chapters of a fantasy novel he was writing for his son. The chapters were all hand written since he has no access to a computer, internet, typewriter etc. It must have taken him ages to write out all 150 pages, but then he has time on his hands...as well as blood.

The long and short of it all, is he wants to co-write my fantasy novel with me, and I have agreed. Oringinally we were told that, since he is in prison he is not allowed to benefit from the novel, should it be published. There is a law in US that prevents any prisoner making money from outside projects...further investigation has proved this not to be the case, but the 'illegal project' in the last line of the poem/lyric had already been included and I chose to leave it in.

This individual is now my friend, I do not judge him for what he has done, although his particular crime is of a nasty nature...but then murder is never 'nice'. I have looked beyond his faults and wrong doings and see him as a writer. His past, like my own, is not what this project is about. Although the way he describes death and murder will make the novel very realistic...even I read his work with my hands over my eyes and just peer between fingers when it feels safe to do so.

The poem/song 'Wall' was written before I made contact with this individual but it wasn't the final version you see today. My original version was based on Satanists using hidden locations to practice black magic and witchcraft...and wasn't very good!!

After a few more letter exchanges in which I had sent him 'Wall' he asked me to re-write it and make it more specific to our project. It is that version you see today.

So the words are now about two writers, from two different worlds, writing a secret novel that will not reveal who one of the writers is. I use my pen-name 'Hooded Stranger' and he is now 'The Condemned Man'. The novel is coming on really well and I have already passed some of it to two publishers here in the UK. Both are keen to publish and it was these publishers that checked the legalalities about a convicted criminal publishing a book. I won't get excited about publication as they have shown a keen interest, but aren't ready to offer a contract yet until they have seen more of the novel.

It is taking a while to write as the only communication is by snail mail...but it is a great challenge and so far has worked like a dream.

We are still writing the collection of poems and lyrics from my original project but the novel has taken a leading role.

So back to the posted poem/lyric:

Firstly 'we hide'...for obvious reasons, that originally we thought it was illegal for 'The Condemned Man' to publish a book and receive any monies for it.

We may eventually use alternative pen-names to make sure there is no connection between him and the book if need be.

The various descriptions of the sun and moon was metaphor to some degree, but the idea was that we are writing this from two locations, so when it is dark here, it is light over there. Also, I tried to bring in the thought that I write in the 'light' of freedom and he writes in the 'darkness' of his cell...I believe he gets 2 hours outside each day.

The 'secret conclave', 'private meet' etc is just an extension of the secrecy behind the project we are undertaking..

The simple chorus section, again should make more sense and also I couldn't help myself as originally there was no chorus...but I wanted to turn the poem into a lyric as I intend to record it.

So there you have it. I am working with a convicted murderer to write a fantasy novel (likely to be at least three books long) and hopefully fulfil my original challenge of writing a collection of 'Prison' works.

When I originally posted this revised version (The Condemned Man likes this new version...and it is always good to be on good terms with a murderer) I just wanted feedback on improving it. It was a short exchange with Jess (weirdelf) that made me think of making it more like a game.

I hope you all enjoyed it and don't judge me wrongly for the project I am undertaking. For obvious reasons I will not post any of the excerpts of the book anywhere on-line.

As for the winner of the competition...well I am still thinking about it as nobody got it right, but some were close in certain aspects, so there may to be a few t-shirt winners!

Thanks to all who entered into this 'guessing game' and I hope the 'Reveal' wasn't a let down for you all.

Kind regards,

HS