in memory of Katrina...

To my dearest Daisy:

Well how are you doing these days? So you talked to Jay I hear, I’m glad of that, I’ve bragged him up to you and I’ve bragged you up to him, so you guys should know I have high opinions of you both. They’re already started to school down there, I guess that’s because there is so many people. He tells me that the two oldest are gymist. He’s got a real good job and he just loves it, says getting away from Maryland was the best thing he ever did, the last time he sent pictures of him and Lisa as kids pretty cool. So I guess I had to go to prison to get my kids back, pretty funny wouldn’t you say. I can’t tell just how many letters have actually gotten to you,

I didn’t get any mail for 36 days, so I’m thinking it may be the same going out as it is coming in, who knows, this lock down just gives them another opportunity to be lazier then they already are.
It’s a sin and shame that these people are people of this caliber, taking the tax payers money to do nothing, just sad. Oh well, so much for our government, hey? But we already know all of this. I’ve been enjoying watching the Olympics quite a lot.

Jay pretty much has got my mothers number , I’ve got to admit it surprised me some, especially after all she has said to them about me, and to me about them, I think maybe it getting her turn to face the music.

So I guess summer is coming to a close, I always liked the island in the fall. Even with all the shit that goes on there, I was always able to find peace with the seasonal beauty, and enjoy my time and space there. Do you ever go by the gravesite to see Katrina? She’ll always be that young girl I watched hitch hike out of the u-turn on that Sunday afternoon. It really hurt my feelings when she left us. I always did like your friend, Daisy.

It has finally evened out at about 95-100 degrees here, don’t matter to us, we’re all locked down anyway. I’ve gone through all my stuff and narrowed it way down, don’t have much at all, it’s a lot easier this way, especially when it comes to cleaning up and when they come in to search the cell, if they see you don’t have anything they just don’t bother you. Now Aaron McKinney, he has the first thing he ever got when he came to prison, he’s a fucking little pack rat. He’s still supposed to be on ABC in October or November. I don’t know what date around the beginning of the month. We will see if they really film it.

I got a card from Annie, I always enjoy reading her letters she’s is forth coming and just talks like we were sitting in the kitchen together. Have you kept in contact with the old aunts down in Florida, I’ve always asked but never got an answer.

Well they have updated us to having 2 hours a day out on the block, half of us at a time. There are 81 of us. So that’s about 40 at a time. There is no screaming on this block, no c-bonics or rap music even though there is one white guy that thinks he’s black.

We have about 10 Spanish or Indians that all came down here with us, so they are ok too! We have a clean rather respectful block of fellows, which is hard to find in a prison. This probably the best bunch of convicts anyone has ever seen. Mostly because of our age on average and the color of our skin.

So the lobster season is about to get underway good luck to you guys this season, I hope this letter finds you happy and well, tell the girls I said hello, and tell Faye I’ll write soon.
Keep on writing; try to contract your poems as perfect as they can possibly be. Not that they aren’t already, you understand. Don’t give up, keep your eyes open. Wide shut.

“Life is like, a mountain railway
With an engineer, that’s true and brave
Keep your hand upon the throttle and you eyes upon the rail
From the cradle to the grave.”

That’s not exactly probably how it goes, but you get my drift, I’m sure. Well I do miss you very very much and love you the same amount. Write soon.

Love Always
Dale H. your Dad

April,13th 2000

To my dearest Freya:



Well I hope you receive this in time to celebrate our day. I thought you would surely have written to me by now, that’s what I get for thinking.



I’m sending some pics I cut out of the Smithsonian book.

The one is of Amelia Arhardt “courage” then there are some sketches of Zelda and F. Scott one drawing entitled Maines rocky coast then one of a moniteth from Ireland.



I thought of you when I saw this one of Amelia I’m sending my courage and hers to you on this day.



I hope you like this card; it made me think of us so long ago, as if it was only yesterday.



I have a whole bunch of these pics. As soon as the next month rolls around I’ll send some real good ones, I didn’t rip the book completely up, but I did indeed get the ones I wanted you to have. You’ll see the ones I especially like. There are some Jackson polluck, Picasso, there’s a repo of an oil of Tallulah Bankhead and on the other side is a photo of Walt Whitman at age 82 Tallulah was from Maryland.



Well I hope this winter has found you all of a healthy and happy one as you near spring.



I’ll be thinking of you on the 13th day of April happy anniversary Freya.



I love you very much.

Love Always, Dale H.



Inside the card:



04-13-00



I’ve known of you for 27 years. I’ve always loved you from the first time I laid eyes on you. I’ll be with you on this day and I’ll always be with you.

lived..

Death Came

june ...

Dear Daisy and Cory:



Well here it is summer 2000, I hope you guys are doing good out there, make sure you tell Cory happy birthday late for me.



I got your birthday cards thank you very much. My mom turned 74 on 06/03/00 and Jimmy Harper will be 83 this year 12/21/00 (r.i.p.) pop-pop

They are doing ok. I keep in touch with them but they are sorta’ wacky.



I feel pretty much the same, I don’t guess I’ll ever grow up, I don’t know.



It sounds like Freya and the girls are doing as well as can be expected. I wish I was there to help them. How is Corys grandparents doing they must be getting old too!



I’m sending you some pictures I cut out, thought you’d find them interesting. You guys don’t get WB channel do you? I guess if you had a satellite you could.



I still need to hear from you on Tony Beardsley about his number and address. Let me know as soon as you can.



Well I hope you can send me some money even if its only $10.00, I hate to ask.



So I’ll see ya baby, I miss you very much and I love you very much



Love Always

Dale H. your Dad

untitled letter

Dearest Daisy:

Well, how the hell are you, I’m writing to let you know some packages will be arriving, some by regular mail and others by UPS, I’m not sure how the island gets the mail these days but I hope it’s a safe trip. They finally moved us up here on the hill, to the new prison; it’s pretty much like one big jail. We have to all double up, I have a celly named John Rodrick, who is a friend of mine and so that makes it good. There aren’t a whole lot of people who I would cell up with, I’ve told them I wouldn’t give them any trouble, but if they try to put someone with me, like a child molester or rapist, they might as well just take me to the hole. I aint going to stand that shit.

Some of the people I’ve known all along are on this block, my best friend is Steve Mitchell and he’s over here. We’ve always lived in different buildings on the old yard, so that’s pretty cool. Also most of the people that were on my block on my old site are here too. Dirty Ron, Gifford Gary Capshaw, Bobby de Spain, Sprout Charlie Lopez. Charlie Lopez is that guy who killed his wife in that house Danny and Sue bought on the west side. He got down here years ago and killed a guard, he has real anger problems.

I don’t know if I ever told you or not but those that killed that one guard in 1997 one of them was one of those guys who killed that couple in Canada years ago, his name was Aaron Dodell.

Also I know Russell Henderson and Aaron Mc Kinney. They sent Russell to a max joint in Virginia and Mc Kinney is on this block. All this talk is probably scaring you, sorry I forget you’re a young lady, I just know I can say anything to you. I love you and miss you very much. Love Always Dale H. your Dad

eras end

apple tree on Islesford, Maine

The Old Crossroad, Ice Pond

Down by the edge of the earth
Where its starting, the long decline
As the ice, that stood until spring
All my sorrows bring

The great white rock, left by glacier gone
Where the ravens roost, on ice pond
A wood fire burns to ambers, and doesn’t
Last to long
Rolling Thunder, Heavenly Father come on
~ Ice Pond

My eyes see slight movement, without
A single sound, the sun it beams
Through window screens and moves
Along the ground
Into gray evening shade, takes it’s toll
of what is paid.

I can not imagine, how great my cost
Of all the time and love, I’ve lost
Winter steals my lifes' blood, with its final frost
Rolling Thunder, Heavenly Father, come on
~ Ice Pond.

Night Notes

Expressions, on the face of time, are prolonged from the brain to the spine.The nerves accompany, life swings by a vine. Doubt crawls up, the other side. A potent author awaits the date, swinging up to deaths gate. Hopes to miss, but meets fate. The brain is asking"won't you wait?"

They went up the back way, all debts were paid.The blood and the cocaine, ran where you laid. The picture wasn't pretty, as the press relayed. In the distance, someone waited, in a room where she prayed.

Now the law is a looking, for the culprit in this case. No one even saw, or could identify a face. And the followed were true by no means, and the case was from a prosecutions dream. In the distance, someone waited slightly behind the scenes.

perfectly plain

nursery rhymes...

only child

brick wall

candle

may the circle be unbroken

To my Dearest Daisy:
Well I’m dropping you a line to see how you are doing, fine I hope. Well I turned 59, I’ll be lucky to make it to 60 if things don’t go right. I’m not sure how it’s all going to end. But you know me, I’m prepared for the worst, I don’t want you to be surprised, you see.

They say if the Wyo. Prison system to do right they can treat me and I’ll be ok for some time to come, its most likely going to take some lawyer threatening to get them to do anything right, mean while I’m going down hill, we’ll see I guess.

You three girls have always been my light since day one, I was real lucky that we spent all the time we did when we were younger, I do know it meant a lot to me.

I think that you have done real well with your life, you are a wonderful person. Much different then most, I’m proud to know you and glad to be your father.

You know having Jay & Lisa come to me this late in the game, could mean many things it makes me wonder, “May the circle be unbroken.”

I love you very, very, much. Love Always, Your Dad

LongTales

let's go sailing away...

untitled

Old Coast Guard Station

Love's Folly Farm, Maryland

This is where Dale and Freya met, out by an old apple tree. Love's Folly was an underground railroad for the slaves.It's a charming and haunting example of the early Maryland days, built of brick soon after the birth of the nation , by Major John Dawson who still lies there in a small tree covered graveyard.

when the veil is lifted...

Freya,

Well I’ve got my mail sent; I’m waiting for an envelope from the canteen to send yours off. So we made it to Texas, the biggest deal was the long bus ride in cuffs and leg restraints. I could barely stand up on the bus let alone pee that way. I’m sure you can guess, kind of humorous of course.

Nevada turned out real bad.

They say what happens in Vegas can stay in Vegas, well that’s what I want for sure, and they can have that stinking shit.

“Beyond the veil, when its lifted there’ll be Pasty, Mary and Blondie they’ll be looking at me rolling their big old eyes, and smiling. They’ll know it’s me and we’ll be happy to see one another. Ernest he’ll be shoveling corn into the elevator and loading the truck for the mill, I’ll be standing around, thinking I’m James Dean, Marlon Brando and Robert Mitchum all rolled in one. There are ham sandwiches for lunch with potato chips and ice tea, and there won’t be a soul around to do me any harm or want to hurt my feelings.
The old folks will be sitting by the fire, waiting for me to visit them. My old dog will stand up and stretch, and wag his tail at me, and lay back down with a grunt, I’ll go out by the Red Cedar Tree and smoke a chesterfield I know I aint suppose to do it, but I do anyway. Day will turn to night I’ll go to bed and sleep and dream of tomorrow.”

It’s certainly grand to live inside my head, to bad there is only room for one. It took me along time to realize how no one really feels how I do, I’m really a lucky guy, real lucky.Oh everybody listens because I tell a half way decent tale, but no-one really knows. I’ve told that story to people about you thinking something was wrong with your feet when your grandmother told you, you had the Delisser foot. I’ve always smiled at that, most everyone I tell smiles too. I wrote a short essay on you and you sister, and that “winters walk” you took when you over heard your friends parents talking about you. I’ve kept that story to myself for along time. I often think of it though.

Well today I’ll be getting my little stamp and envelope, so you’ll be getting this soon. I have a single cell; with my own shower I’ll tell ya it is grand. It’s okay if they forget I’m down here as far as I’m concerned. So it’s pretty much official there are more convicts from Wyoming out of the state then in the state. What the fuck? Hell there is even a 100 Wyoming girls here, but we are not allowed to get at each other. But we can see each other in the passing; there is a lot of showing of tits, naturally. I’m old but I’m not dead yet. Might as well be though, don’t have a family to take care of and no kitchen to fool around in, hell that’s no fun.

You can’t really direct any of the younger men here, about how they express their selves, the language they use, the impression they make etc. I never knew how many people in America really have no education. I guess I’m probably just as dumb but jesus, Freya.

I’ve drifted over to abstract cubism and abstract impressionism. It seems pretty natural for me and I love doing it. After a piece is complete I contemplate it and I observe things I did not see while in the commission of creating it. There is so much to it; well it’s just something for me that’s all.
I’ve became pretty good buddies with Ashley by mail she is much like daisy in how she sees things her art is impressionistic and slightly unique. She struggles with the split race thing, I think her boyfriend is ok he’s a black kid. She just wants to graduate and get on with life. Lisa tells me that since Ashley has been in communication with me she’s became more understanding around her family group. It could be maybe it’s just that she’s growing up. Well give my address to one of the three.
Love, Dale

circle of friends...

more unopened cards, until now...

love that never dies...

long distance hug

beautiful drawing

Courtroom Shuffle...

The security guard in the Federal State Building was a very un-charming soulless being.
With his black striped pants and one squinted eye he yelled at us down the hallways.
“Where are you going?”

The disenchanting court scenario is always a prolonging experience. They were running behind schedule, so we listened to the guard talk about being a warden in the New Mexico jails. He went on about how they would try to make jail house wine with rotten fruit and yeast. They could smell it brewing so they would shake down the place and find all the things the prisoners were hiding.

I mentioned how the jails in Arizona were really bad and he acted as if the Sheriff Joe Arpaio is some kind of hero to him and that he really knew what he was doing and how to make them pay their dues so to speak. I just nodded in disbelief and just kept my mouth shut the rest of the time.

I already didn’t like him now and I could tell he was so scared of his own shadow, being a cop in New Mexico had some effect on him. But now he was just a guard and he was more of an empty shell of a body letting the system wear him down. He went on about a new subject now it was a vacation he had taken with his wife to Ireland. He kept complaining as if everything that had happen on the trip was a rip off from the very beginning or some kind of tourist scam. He said “They didn’t even roll out the red carpet for us when we got there.”

Just because he was American in some far away haunted castle in Ireland, I guess he thought he would get some kind of special treatment. Acting like he had been scammed by the car rental place for being a tourist, he thought it was fine if the prisoners never got to watch television except two channels the Disney and News channel and be in 120 degree tents.

I don’t think he realized he was in his own jail everyday; he just never will enjoy life and all of its beauty the way you do in happiness. Something I knew so well after living on the tiny island of isolation for so long. The roads were to narrow to pull over to take any photos they thought. Maybe it is their narrow minded way of thinking that stopped them from enjoying the vacation. While he went away for a break the other security guard said “Well his wife and him were just two lost people over there.”
DaisyLions Inc. Kisses Etc.©2008

On your silver rails,Through the moonlight

Down the mountainside
To the coastline
Past the angry tide
The mighty diesel whines...neil young