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"Apprehension and Satisfaction"
I'd already been exposed to George's literary thoughts from being apart of the Source board, but I wasn't ready for this. He is g-o-o-d on the boards, but this book was e-x-c-e-l-l-e-n-t. I'm always apprehensive about the way prisons work. Some people leave jail and find that they are the same knuckleheads they were going in (assuming they are guilty...which is a whole other story). Some come out changed men...and learn from their mistakes. Some are so angered by the system that they can't quite choose which way they want to go. From the poetry I read, George appears to lie moreso towards the second man...prisoner.

Some people may look at the... More > summary and think "How can I relate to this? I'm not in jail nor am I thug." Well, I'm not either, but the way this poet creates is something that many of us who are inexperienced to the lifestyle can still learn from. Some of his strongest pieces are the ones that talk about life rather than jail: "Meaningless," "Sometimes I Write,"Experience," "I Wonder," and to put it bluntly, even someone who hasn't been in jail can grudgingly relate to "Playing Alone."

Some of the other strong poems get much more personal into his world: "The Crucible of My Life," "Wounded," "How Will I Be Received?" "These Hands," and "I Wanna." Although I wish the last line in "I Wanna" said "...and you won't like what I've found," I still enjoyed that piece. The only reason this book did not get the highest rating was because of the line "bruised the faces of women" from "These Hands." That disappointed me...and stuck in my mind.

But nevertheless, if I were you and bought the book, I'd go directly to "These Hands" because he delves into his faults as well as his new knowledge. The strongest line to me was "...are dreams mere fantasies of the lazy soul?" in "I Wonder." As a dreamer, I had to sigh with that line. What a satisfying read. < Less