Jamie Thrasivioulu
Jamie joined the team in September 2020 during 'Say Man Take Heart' in HMP Stafford.
He worked in colaboration with David and Freddy and the men inside on their creative writing for the show
plus he also wrote and performed a new piece of his own inspired by the themes of the project.
Prison Poem Commission for HMP Stafford
It's not hard to see why some never make it out of their mind If I mention the soundscape of a prison
Those who know the instruments that form the orchestra
will already tune-in to the arrangement and out from my voice
Tune in to keys clashing against metal to form the beat The squeak of trainers from the landing floor
The muffled voices beyond pad doors
It's not hard to conclude why some don't make it out alive- For prison ain't just a physical space- it also houses the mind
A theatre of discourage
A screaming bat glued to the lapels of the shirt worn only for visits
Eyes accustomed to fluorescent lights only Basic streets now greet you with surprise Flash of blue lights
sirens in surround sound
the whole world's grime in full HD
It ain't too hard to see
why plenty never escape the prison of their mind never find home outside of it
even when their sentence is up
As the night's dark- serotonin lost the spark. gone jumped from a car-park.
You can see how he didn't make it
How he couldn't glide through his thoughts
lacked the safety net of language to express the feelings. But always had those feelings.
So when he flew from the pebble-dashed stone without even the slightest thought of Icarus. He knew his destination. Understood that his landing place wasn't the sea but the sun- drenched tarmac of a Midlands city.
It's not hard to see why he didn't make it. It's not hard to conclude why some never make it out of their mind.
And instead seek escape through flight...



Biography
Jamie Thrasivoulou is an award-winning writer, poet, lyricist and workshop facilitator from Derby. He’s a passionate East Midlander who likes nothing more than extolling the virtues of his home county of Derbyshire and its near neighbours, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.
He was an asociate artist in the project ‘Man Up’, which he collaborated on with Restoke which received the award for Best Collaborative Work. In 2018 his musical project Bloque Capitals was joint winner of the Culture Matters: Bread and Roses award for spoken word and musical collaboration. In January 2019 Jamie was part of the UNISLAM 2019 winning team with the University of Birmingham. He’s currently the writer-in-residence at HMP Foston Hall. Jamie is also a visiting lecturer at Derby University.