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A BLANK SPOT IN LIFE
I was 22 when I came to prison
and of course I have changed
tremendously over the years.
But I had always had
a strong sense of myself
and in the last few years
I felt I was losing my id entity.
There was a deadness in my body th at eluded me
as though I could not exactly locate its site.
I would be aware of this numbness,
this feeling of atrophy,
and it haunted the back of my min d.
Because of this numb sp ot,
I felt peculiarly off balance,
the awareness of something missing,
of a blank spot,
a certain intimation of emptiness.
Now I know what it was,
And since encountering you,
I feel life strength
flowing back into that spot.
From SOUL ON IC E by Eldridge Cleaver
Copyright © 1968 by E . Cleaver.
Used with permission of McGraw-Hill Book Company.