My name is Guillermo I grew up with four sisters and three brothers eight of us all together my mother did it alone, so we were poor financially but brought up with rich values. Most of my life has been in prison from juvenile hall to county jail to prison. In that order my pops was in and out of the picture. Early on I saw the ugliness of the world from the hand that I was dealt. I adopted the backwards dead-end blueprints of how to live and die. For what I once believed was an honorable way of life. I am 31 years old now and all I have to show is a body full of tattoos and conscious stains with misery. On top of that a lot of haunting memories of what I wish I could forget. On this current case I am serving time for assault with a firearm sent to me sent me to prison for 12 years. Before it was an assault with a firearm it was three attempted murders. That point in my life it’s when something changed inside of me. My sons mother was months away from having my son. I was fighting a case that almost cost me my whole life. While sitting in Los Angeles county jail, a chaplain came to my door to My door to let me know my pops had just died. If there’s anything good about being broken I guess it would have been PP being able to put the pieces back together the way it should be. I came from hopelessness, from a cycle of meaningless never ending violence. But this can’t be all life has to offer. I was too careless for any of this to matter before, But now I’ve got a son. I realize now I’m not who I thought I was. A victim of miss lead teaching and statistics. Every day’s a new struggle. But I’m working hard to be better today than I was yesterday. I have dreams and goals. I am working on my AA degree in business. I am a poet, artist, and more than that a father. Yet and still, I’m also an inmate. I’ve got three years left And I’m looking to make the most out of them by educating myself and hopefully others on the other side of the fence to hell not all inmates are felons they came in as people change evolving and learning. To be productive contributor to be a productive contributor to society this blog is a window into the forgiveness and daily struggles and endless battles and tomorrow’s victories! I appreciate this blogs creators for changing for the chance to show the world who I really am. Not a number, not a prisoner with no regards, but a human who made mistakes and learned expensive lessons for my missteps. Hope you and Joe enjoy my poetry and music if you’d like to reach out here’s my contact information Guillermo SanTiesteban AZ3088 PO Box 5007, Calipatria, CA 92233 thank you for your time
poem:
“Is this life?“
Is this the life you wanted?
Picture perfect?
Was all this part of your plan?
More pain than glory, confusing to understand
When I’m up late with these thoughts and vivid image of my past
Tryna figure out the difference to distinguish where I’m at
Lying to cover up the truth, because I’m blind to all the facts
Sincerely I want a change just to find the peace I lack
Because I gave my all to one, but she don’t have the same to match
The path in which I walk, leads to emptiness
Sometimes you gotta go through hell, to get to what‘s heaven sent
I chase a feeling, no substance could ever duplicate
But still I’d probably chase it off a cliff in hopes to find escape
It’s sick to say, and worse to hear, but facts of no debate
My paths been shaped by the struggles that stemmed from my mistakes
Life waits for no one
