Sunday, July 28, 2013

Another Cool TLB Book, Discovered by "The Grump"!


I recently came across an old 1976 paperback titled “Prose and Cons” , “a sensational collections of writings torn from the guts of men and women behind bars.”


Info here:  http://www.amazon.com/Prose-Cons-Frank-Earl-Andrews/dp/0515038814/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375025537&sr=1-1&keywords=Prose+%26+Cons


It includes Leslie’s 46 page short story titled “Ima Fibben” and 40 pages of poetry written by Pat.


First, “Ima Fibben” is good!  Very well written, and when it ended I wished it would have continued on to a novel!  A young girl, “Ima Fibben” tells about being in jail for the first time, and the story of her adjusting to prison life.  It begins with her being called a “new fish” (shades of Shawshank Redemption), to the end where she get’s a “new fish” cellmate and begins to teach her the ropes as others taught her.


Pat’s “poetry” is very good as well.  I know there is a word for this, but it doesn’t rhyme at all!  She never mentions Charlie by name, but as you can see by these two poems, she was obviously talking, and thinking about him.  She was still so in love with him in 1976!


Of Love

I watched your eyelids gently
Falling as I lay beside you,
And beneath your chin, my head
Rested listening to your beard grow….

Him

Him…

Strumming
finger licking strings
That hum to a scream
The beat
Ballad to a flamingo
Home spun to sting.
To listen intently is a game
Played around
your own mind’s reasoning.

His eyes ever constant
Facial muscles moving
Rapidly changing relatable expressions
But the eyes remain as a doe
Friendly
Aloof
Reaching to the other side
Making full circle around you.

Menacing glares when you step too close
Without being invited.
Piercing and loving
You know he has seen
But is looking around you
And when he finally focuses
To a single dark perspective he pops a pimple on your face.

Voice deep and calm
Within the turbulence of changing rhythms
Repeating words
Dangling as apples on a tree
Prepared to fall
Then caught like a fly ball
To left field.
You have the impression
You are playing with a dealer
Whose deck is full.
You invite his words
While he meets your plays
And you continually ask for another card.

When he loses
He always comes out a winner.
Defeat unspoken
In a past of unspeakable
Understood
Deciphered
When his eyes disappear.
Considering 28 years in walled cities
Is unintelligible
To a coed cheerleader
Of football reality.

Quick
Tense
An almost detached stance
To his body.
He laughs when he knows you like him
And his mouth of thin lips
Protrudes sexily
Into a wide
Shallow opening.
Relax and laugh
Pat you on your back
Walk away grinning.

Motion
Hands forever mobile
If not on another
On his guitar
In his pockets
Fumbling with a penny
A rock
A pen knife
Flipping a deck of cards
Like a Mississippi riverboat gambler.

Always with dancing fingers
With a cig
Running from and over the thumb
Thru the forefinger
To the next and return
Finally hiding it in a cupped hand
Though there is no wind.

Feet slightly haired
Toes that clasp the dirt
Like a friend
Though he usually wears shoes.
Top to top he walks
Making the world his own
Never refusing the day or night
His presence.

Moves with a clip
A shuffle
Can cover an area of two feet
And make it an acre.
Ballet steps
Pushing sweat from his ducts
Up to be worn as a taste of life.

Works for change
But never repeats
Except in a song
And even there
The music continues to change.
Makes ideas easy
For someone else to incorporate.

Stands before a mirror
Practices like a comedian
On the grammar of muscles
And emotions.
Handles scenes
But exits when no one wants to talk
Can make a show that will stun.

Sincere in fucking
Controls your person
Making sure you know
You have received a gift
And you know you have.
Fierce
Never perverse
Yet you wonder
If he even enjoyed you.
Finishes by lighting a cig
Putting on his pants
Walking away.

Never a thought about spending
$50 on a 1 lb. bag of sugar\nor a complaint about wanting salt.
Yet push
And he will push harder.
Impatient
Full of drive
Spanned by pressure
Which he draws from
Uses to his own advantage.

Sizes up a condition
How to move a mountain,
Finds the solution
Buys a candy bar instead.

Man of a million faces
But always those eyes
Which cause you to think.
He then tells you not to
“as you might get caught
Unconsciously analyzing
A situation.”

32 comments:

LynyrdSkynyrdBand said...

Thanks Grump!
Great contribution.

I like Pat's writing, as well.
It's pretty deep stuff.

I added your name to the "Thread Hall of Fame".
I apologize for forgetting (to add you on), the last time.
It was an honest oversight.

Peace Brother!

katie8753 said...

Thanks Grump. I'd like to read Leslie's story. Sounds interesting.

St. Circumstance said...

Great post!!

Ima Fibbon used to be on Bretts site as well and I remember feeling the same way after reading it- it should have went on longer. Lulu still had a pretty sharp sense of humor when she came up with this. It was witty as hell.

Anonymous said...

Hey St! Live long and prosper my friend!

St. Circumstance said...

Im trying lol

MrPoirot said...

I read LuLu's story years ago. In it she mentions being told upon her arrival at the clink that she will not be released until she is in her 70s.
When a dying Sadie was denied her compassionant release bid and then died in prison It must have been a a day of final reconning for LuLu. The day Sadie died was the day LuLu realized she would never be released. The hopes of Ima Fibbon were forever dashed when Sadie died. LuLu now lives a life without hope.

MrPoirot said...

I'll hate to see Brian's Star City show go on hiatus.

katie8753 said...

I do too Mr. P. I really look forward to his show.

Oh well....

LynyrdSkynyrdBand said...

Everybody needs to take a break from this stuff, once in a while.
If you don't take a vacation every now and then... you'll go bonkers.

A little time away, is a healthy and responsible decision.

Anyway... he'll be back...

sunset77 said...

Thanx for the post. Personally, I don't search out Manson books, too much info online. I would like to read "The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten", I found a few chapters of it online, but I think it's since been removed.

I also found a list of books related to Manson, I think there were like 100 or 150 books, I can't find that again either. While looking, I ran across what I guess is a somewhat new pic of Manson, Star, and a person I don't recognize, that pic is on Manson Direct HERE. Manson's 2 black eyes are visible and appear to be healing somewhat.

MrPoirot said...

The books on Manson are many times just good reading. They are page turners. There are several movies that are good as well.
I have my own ideas for a movie starring Simon Pegg entitled "Manson's Zombie Women From Death Valley".
Lrnyrd has a major role in the movie. He plays Archie Bunker who meets the "Girls" in Death Valley while repairing a flat tire near Ballarat while on vacation.

katie8753 said...

Sunset, it looks like Charlie and Star are making some kind of symbol with their hands. Do you know what that means?

DebS said...

Blogger sunset77 said...
Thanx for the post. Personally, I don't search out Manson books, too much info online. I would like to read "The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten", I found a few chapters of it online, but I think it's since been removed.

I also found a list of books related to Manson, I think there were like 100 or 150 books, I can't find that again either.
--------------------------

I know exactly which list your referring to, Sunset. It is a great source.

http://www.angelfire.com/amiga/atwa/biblio.htm

sunset77 said...

Thanx DebS, you are correct, the Anglefire list you posted a link to is exactly the list I had seen.

Katie, I noticed the hand symbols Star and Manson were making in the pic also, no I don't know what they mean if anything. They often make strange, or interesting gestures in photos, they might know the meaning of them, but I don't.

I suspect the reason many people write books is the same reason many people make movies, money. Many movies are simply "exploitation", they exploit the murders, the victims, the perpetrators, the court case etc. appealing to prurient interest to make money. As Archie Bunker would say, not exactly a "high class" business.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the list Deb! I had no idea White Rabbitt wrote a book! I'll look into it.

LynyrdSkynyrdBand said...

Grump,

Please check your email.

Thanks.

MrPoirot said...

GrumpFromPahrump said...
Thanks for the list Deb! I had no idea White Rabbitt wrote a book! I'll look into it(end quote)


Poirot replies:


Ive read it. It's mostly bs. I think he may have met some of the Family and maybe been at Spahns but who knows. Maybe even White Rabbit doesn't know either. He's a strange man with an addled brain and a desire for attention.

MrPoirot said...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2380511/Charles-Manson-learned-win-friends-brainwash-followers-thanks-self-help-course-favored-Warren-Buffett-new-book-claims.html

For those who haven't read this already.

sunset77 said...

I ran across a pic on the "ATWAR" blog of Lynette Fromme pointing a pistol that I wasn't familiar with. That pic can be seen HERE. Just in front of the rear sight is what appears to be a tiny button that is probably the "slide lock".

My dad had 2 pistols that were very similar although I think the barrels on my dads pistols might have been an inch or 2 shorter. They were both semi automatic .22 caliber, one was a Colt "Huntsman", the other, a Colt "Woodsman". They both had that tiny button slide lock. If you pulled the slide back, pushed the button down, and let the slide forward slightly, the action would stay open. It came in handy if the gun "jammed". I remember more than once using a screwdriver, pen knife, ice pick, dime, etc. trying to remove a stuck shell or casing.

A pic of a Colt Huntsman can be seen HERE.

MrPoirot said...

Not a Colt. Most likely a Ruger. Look at the grip used to pull the slide. It is verticle. A Colt has a 45 deg slant.

beauders said...

I believe that is a picture of fromme from 1973-1974 in the bay area. she and friends used to go to a gun range about 20 miles from where I was living at the time.

MrPoirot said...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2380994/Inside-mind-mass-killer-Academics-deny-loner-theory-say-killers-detached-driven-paranoia-revenge.html

I thought this was interesting. It is a study saying paranoia is the key ingredient to mass and serial killers.
Though not included in the study I think Manson was extremely paranoid as well.

candy and nuts said...

I also remember reading in Susan Atkins books that the three did alot of embroidery in prison and some of it was published/written about in some magazines anyone know about this?

sunset77 said...

Pic of a Colt Woodsman with a vertical notched slide grip and button slide lock HERE.

MrPoirot said...

Nah. That is still slanted. It cant be a Colt at all.
You can easily see the verticle, twin eared grip on the slide where thumb and forefinger are used to grasp. It's a Ruger

katie8753 said...

Mr. P., I don't know much about guns, but that picture that Sunset produced says "Colt" right on the gun. LOL.

katie8753 said...

Hi Bobby!!! :)

MrPoirot said...

I'm saying that the pistol Squeaky is shooting in the pic Sunset posted is not a Colt but a Ruger.

katie8753 said...

Sorry Mr. P. I was misconfused about which picture you were talking about. LOL.

Bobby said: Hey the prose & cons of hitch hiking. Anyone see Clapton & the guy from Pinkfloyd ( name escapes me) on that concert tour ? I saw it in Toronta about 82 or 83 i guess.

No Bobby...I missed that one. :)

Unknown said...

bobby said...Hey the prose & cons of hitch hiking. Anyone see Clapton & the guy from Pinkfloyd ( name escapes me) on that concert tour ? I saw it in Toronta about 82 or 83 i guess.

Thats weird you should mention that,i just posted my ticket stub for the show i was at from that tour on facebook.
Hartford civic center july 17,1984
I'm pretty sure it was the first u.s. show of the pros and cons tour.
a 16 dollar ticket to see roger waters and eric clapton....don't think we'll ever see prices like that again!

MrPoirot said...

Sunset if you blow up that pic to 850% you can see that that pin(slide lock) you speak of is actually the front of the ejection port.

fiona1933 said...

Interesting she calls him a doe. I don't think it's good poetry at all, but it does capture him pretty well as a kind of prose poem.

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, hélas, I may no more.
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain
There is written, her fair neck round about:
Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.


This is about Anne Boleyn, by Thomas Wyatt. Wyatt loved her before Henry (Caesar) came along, but since he was married, couldn't have her and yet couldn't leave off chasing her. Same imagery of a doe "wild for to hold, though I seem tame" Could there be a better line than that. Love this poem. Anne was not beautiful at all, but she had a quality, elusive, compelling and mysterious, she scared people and enchanted them: Henry came to believe she had caught him with witchcraft. Maybe Charlie is her reincarnation.