Alcatraz

While in California recently The Stuns drummer, Ed, and I went to San Francisco for a few days, taking in Yosemite on the way. Here's a few photos.

1) Ed & I next to a Yosemite Sequoia


2) Me with an incredible Yosemite panorama at sunset


3) A random saloon we stopped at on our way into San Fran


4) ...inside that Saloon. Those are US dollar bills stuck to the roof!


5) Alcatraz Prison Island with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background


6) Inside Alcatraz


7) A cell in Alcatraz as it may have looked in its day


8) The view from the Island back to San Fran city


There are many other photos of San Fran but I won't bore you further as Alcatraz is the point of my post today.

Here is a video showing the view from the island back to the city and the Golden Gate Bridge


And this one is shots from the inside of a solitary confinement cell. Scary stuff if experienced more than a few minutes straight, and the prisoners would do a few WEEKS straight!!


I found the interviews with former inmates on the Audio Tour the most intriguing and this poem is inspired by one man's story of his release and how much he felt lost, alone and scared in the city that had been his home.


Alcatraz

I remember that day so clear
Joy and anticipation mixed with fear
Walking out through my old home's halls
Then stepping free of those prison walls
I had no idea where to go
As the slow bay ferry bobbed to and fro
In fifteen years I had not heard
From anyone - not one single word

Admittedly my Mum had died
And Dad walked out when I was a child
But there were people I'd called friends
Though I figured most had met their ends
And a fair assumption it would be
We had near escapes repeatedly
But in my heart a knife cuts still
That Kate never came to that water bound hill

I loved her so much words can't say
Yet she's been but a ghost since that grave day
Maybe I could find her now
Just the thought and sweat drips down my brow
What would I say after fifteen years
Would we embrace with smiles and happy tears
Or would she pretend to not know me
Or worse, be married happily

The city creeps closer - a merciless giant
My fear grows more no matter how defiant
I try to be, because I know
I've little life left to fight this foe
The ferry docks - I walk on down
The pier towards my old home town
As people, cars and trams fly past
I feel this moment may well be my last

As I don't know how to live beyond
Those walls I'm now reliant on
Now Alcatraz, my island home
May be where I feel less alone