by Warren Corley, San Quentin State Prison, CA
My condolences to you and my blessing to each child man and woman who are forever related to him in family intimacy, love and spirt. Dave’s spirit was a beautiful and very strong flame. A white light that boldly made itself felt by making the darkness flee.
Love is that powerful and he brought a brave energy that tore down the safe house that I had and locked my spirit away inside. My name is Warren Corley. He called me by my nickname “focus”. He like Phillie’s Focus or Blackrose is my writing. Poetry, spoken, word rap name I’ve been here at Quentin serving my sentence for the past four years. Before the pandemic I attended all The Beat Within meetings.
The past two years my college classes got in the way and Dave insisted my degree was more important. I had a plan to take an absence from my sociology class and surprise him with a visit. I was also about to write to him again. I had no idea he was even sick. This hit me very hard.
Dave was special. When we first met I had just arrived at San Quentin, from serving hard prison life at violent maximum security level 4 prisons. I wasn’t used to San Quentin’s open environment. Dave broke through the locks of my safe house and freed the true person that I am. I love Dave for that. He saw my passion for our youth and my love of writing and stage performance.
He loved to share my talent by writing pieces in the magazine. Simultaneously I performed in Berkely, Shakespear and Red Ladder plays here at SQ. I also was motivated to do my thing at poetry celebrations here. He made me!
I had never performed or shared my pieces. Now I love to!
I recently wrote a spoken word piece about my life. It’s dear to my heart and I planned on sharing it by letter with Dave. The piece would have to be extremely edited to fit the magazine’s curriculum. It’s sad because teens are not ever negatively influenced by a grimy crime story that goes into the psychological and spiritual damage done to a child, that made him vulnerable to manipulation by older men who gave him affection and a sense of belonging.
Crime isn’t being glorified. The discovery of finding one’s self by being alone is. Teens can handle the truth when adults can’t. The bottom line is this endeavor of mine will lose too much effect if it’s edited but Dave would have loved it! I wanted him to use it in any way he desired, as long as he maintained my name and creative authorship in every way. He showed me how to keep poor man pattens on all of my work.
I love Dave. He became my true friend when I needed one the most. There’s so much more crazy truth to why I feel affection for his memory and what he helped me to overcome. I know he is in paradise.