Posted inPoetry

Simple Pleasures

There are plenty of bad habits to witness inside an Oklahoma prison.

by J. Bauhaus March 3, 2023February 22, 2023

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Close window X

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Prison Journalism Project is happy to share our writers and reporters’ stories with your print and online audiences. You are free to republish them under a Creative Commons license unless otherwise noted on the page. You can use the URL or copy and paste the story into your CMS.

Here are our ground rules:

You must credit Prison Journalism Project. In the byline, we prefer “[Author Name], Prison Journalism Project.” At the top of the text of your story, please include a line that says: “This story was originally published by Prison Journalism Project” and include a link to the article.
No republishing of photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission. Please contact inquiries@prisonjournalismproject.org.
No editing the content, including the headline, except to reflect changes in time, location and editorial style. For example, changing, “today” to “last week,” or San Quentin to San Quentin, California. You can also make minor revisions for style or headline size, and you can trim stories for space. You must also retain all original hyperlinks, including links to the Prison Journalism Project newsletters.
No translation of our stories into another language without specific permission. Please contact inquiries@prisonjournalismproject.org.
No selling ads against our stories, but you can publish it on a page with ads that you’ve already sold.
No reselling or syndicating our stories, including on platforms or apps like Apple News or Google News. You also can’t republish our work automatically or all at once. Please select them individually.
No scraping our website or using our stories to populate websites designed to improve search rankings or gain revenue from network-based advertisements.
Any site our stories appear on must have a prominent and effective way to contact you.
If we send you a request to remove our story, you must do so immediately.
If you share republished stories on social media, please tag Prison Journalism Project. We have official accounts on Twitter (@prisonjourn), Facebook (@prisonjournalism), Instagram (@prisonjournalism) and Linked In.
Let us know when you share the story. Send us a note, so we can keep track.

Simple Pleasures

by J. Bauhaus, Prison Journalism Project
March 3, 2023

<h1>Simple Pleasures</h1>
<p class="byline">by J. Bauhaus, Prison Journalism Project <br />March 3, 2023</p>
 
<p>Some simple pleasures will drive you nuts!<br />Like all these inmates seeking cigarette butts.<br />They're combing the grass, and in the trash can.<br />Every stogie they find is their favorite brand!<br />Mooch a paper, bum a light.<br />Gasp! Wheeze! Pure delight!<br />Heads all a-buzz with nicotine,<br />Next high to chase? That's caffeine!<br />Empty cup on their finger, a beg on their lips,<br />Takes only a minute to cop a few sips!<br />Swig! Slurp! Splash and drip!<br />Now they're off on ANOTHER trip!<br />Coughing and hacking, slinging snot from the nose,<br />Off on a mission! Gotta find some glucose!<br />Too lazy for breakfast, they slept like the dead,<br />Laid there and snored, missed the syrup and bread.<br />"Borrow" a Debbie, gobble it down,<br />Sugar rush! Break-dance around!<br />Let's not forget the nastiest habit of all,<br />The one when you see it, it makes your skin crawl!<br />Careful where you walk, lean or sit,<br />Whatever you touch may be covered with spit!<br />Suck! Chew! Ptui! This is okay!<br />Try not to look, try to have a nice day!</p>


 <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2023/03/03/prison-poem-pet-peeves-simple-pleasures/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://prisonjournalismproject.org">Prison Journalism Project</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/prisonjournalismproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/cropped-PJP-favicon-2.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://prisonjournalismproject.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=27934" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p>

Cigarette butts on white painted surface — Photo by belchonock on Depositphotos

Prison Journalism Project trains incarcerated writers to become journalists and publishes their stories. Subscribe to Inside Story to receive exclusive behind-the-scene looks at our best stories, as well as author profiles and other insights.

Some simple pleasures will drive you nuts!
Like all these inmates seeking cigarette butts.
They’re combing the grass, and in the trash can.
Every stogie they find is their favorite brand!
Mooch a paper, bum a light.
Gasp! Wheeze! Pure delight!
Heads all a-buzz with nicotine,
Next high to chase? That’s caffeine!
Empty cup on their finger, a beg on their lips,
Takes only a minute to cop a few sips!
Swig! Slurp! Splash and drip!
Now they’re off on ANOTHER trip!
Coughing and hacking, slinging snot from the nose,
Off on a mission! Gotta find some glucose!
Too lazy for breakfast, they slept like the dead,
Laid there and snored, missed the syrup and bread.
“Borrow” a Debbie, gobble it down,
Sugar rush! Break-dance around!
Let’s not forget the nastiest habit of all,
The one when you see it, it makes your skin crawl!
Careful where you walk, lean or sit,
Whatever you touch may be covered with spit!
Suck! Chew! Ptui! This is okay!
Try not to look, try to have a nice day!

STORIES LIKE THIS…
are made possible by people like you who help Prison Journalism Project fulfill our mission to train incarcerated people to become journalists and publish their stories. We aim to empower a marginalized community to be a vital voice in criminal justice reform.

Help bring transparency to the world of mass incarceration by making a monthly donation.

Donate

J. Bauhaus

J. Bauhaus is a writer incarcerated in Oklahoma.

More by J. Bauhaus

Help unlock the stories of those on the inside

Related Stories

J. Bauhaus