Gerald Proper, January 3rd, 2012

7:56 pm

Another day in the “Big House.” It’s really not a big house, although the Clements Unit is the largest in Texas with 5,000 inmates in attendance, compared to New York prisons which average about 1,300 – 2,000 inmates. I ran into an old copy of maximum pc magazine (Nov. issue) which had a great article on “Create an Ebook for Kindle Reader” and in my next letter home I will ask my mother if she would consider creating a number of short stories, not to write them of course, just to format them, etc. Right now I have five short stories and a few hundred poems, so my plan would be to have mom format the five short stories which will be accessed on amazon and read on a kindle reader. I would also like to compile a poetry book. One day I will get published… even if I have to do it myself. (:

I remember back in 1992-3 when I was in the Auburn Correctional Facility in upstate NY. I would walk the Recreation Yard with Jack Abbot, the co-author of “In the Belly of the Beast,” which he wrote with Norman Mailer. Jack would read some of my poetry (which was bad) and talk about my ideas about stories, and he would let me read some of his stories that he was writing for Hustler Magazine in a pen name, because he couldn’t use his real name because the guy he killed, his wife won a 3.8 million against Jack for the murder and any money he made the state would take. I left Auburn in ’94, Jack was in The Box for having a shank, then years later I learned Jack hung himself. Sad? Or just life? How much tragedy can a man endure, how much can he cause? In my case I just open my eyes and look around.