I still believe

//cozine andre welch, jr.
 

Auntie Pam’s dream died
on a curb that did not care.
But Auntie Clarice’s dream
is alive
re-living a nightmare
in the every-day time.
His MP3 mixtape life stuck on repeat.

A star,
light racing through the vacuum,
Sun has done
dope grinds, dice games,
kick-doors and robberies.
Ask him, a hustler he’s gotta be.
Not at all blind so he’s gotta see.

In and out prison ritual.
Working on his 4th degree habitual
instead of
healing critical wounds or
admiring the sight from a
corporate-corner-office-with-a-view
or even just
working-middle-classing it.
A good job with benefits.
Wife and 3 little kids.
One, a boy who had a stutter like him but
curbed it and became a wordsmith.

Yes,
Auntie Pam’s dream died
and with it something inside
but,
Auntie Clarice’s dream is alive
and with it, too,
something inside.
Hope.

And I still believe.

//Cozine Andre Welch, Jr. is a 35-year-old Detroit native who toggles between being a Guitar Player who writes and a Writer who plays guitar. Incarcerated at the age of 17, he eagerly anticipates his approaching release and chance to experience adulthood. A regular contributor to The Michigan Review of Prisoner Creative Writing, Cozine has been featured in six of the seven volumes, and has even penned the introduction to Volume 4. Blessed with an able and supportive family, Cozine will soon attain his degree in Business Administration.