Abundance
By SW
I remember being in the streets living
Project living, dreams of making millions
But project living earned me a spot in the system
Times got hard
So I prayed to Allah
Just keep your mind occupied
On your journey or your ride
Before it’s too late, tell your God
You appreciate him for keeping you alive
39 Comments
Leave a Comment
The poets featured here are currently incarcerated, and many of them are in federal prisons far from home. Your feedback is a valuable source of motivation and connection to the outside community. Post your comments, feedback, and encouragement in the space below the poem. Messages will be passed on directly to the author. Comments may not appear immediately on the site, as our team processes them to mail to the poets.
Your poem is speaking nothing but the truth to how so many kids in inner cities thinking living that street life is cool until you end up locked up with your freedom taking away. Finding faith and refocusing your energy helped you make it through and that’s a lesson others can follow. Great job.
SW,
I really appreciated your vulnerability and dependence on your faith! I like the line “you appreciate him keeping you alive”! Thank you for sharing your poem!
Best regards,
Samantha
Dear SW,
Nice bringing your own insight and experience into your poem. Nice poem. I like the rhythm of it. Keep working
SW, your poem succinctly tells a story that brings about so much imagery using a brief poem. THAT is talent! Your poem has great cadence and rhyme scheme! This poem really leaves your reader with a lot to take away from it and think about when they’re done reading. That’s not easy to have that kind of impact on your reader, but you do it incredibly well! Thank you for sharing this!
I like this poem because it was concise and easy to read. Great job!
SW,
I really enjoyed your poem and the challenge I felt it brought up. I feel that there is a suffering and it can be easy to lose sight, but faith is a way to find that light. There are many small things that can be overwhelming and stressful but the last line of your poem spoke volume, “You appreciate him for keeping you alive”. We tend to forget to be grateful for living and experiencing life. Your poem brings readers back to that simple and most gratifying joy we have and that is life. Thank you for your touching poem, please keep writing.
I love your expression of hope through faith and gratitude. Gratitude is the path to having more to be gracious for. stay with your faith and keep giving thanks for what you have. I believe in you and thank you for sharing this with me.
SW,
I love the theme of gratitude and appreciation throughout this poem. Despite how hard life gets, we can still be thankful to whichever God one prays to that we still have a life to live and air in our lungs!
Stay strong!
Mona
SW, your last two lines are pure magic.
I love how this poem touches on the importance of gratitude and mindfulness! As someone who is also tied to faith it was really touching to see that tied in also well.
I love how this poem speaks to the importance of gratitude! Very empowering and reminds me to stay postive.
I really like the rhythm in the poem. It is also really nice to see how your words express your gratitude for everything.
I am not extremely religious, but the last two lines did make me stop and think for a minute. You do have a point, who else would be keeping me alive?
I commend your ability to write. it is easy to lose sight of what we should be appreciating everyday. It is easy to take matters for granted and we should practice gratitude for what we are given. This poem is succinct yet tells a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing.
I love how you talk about how faith gets us through tough times. I really appreciate this, because putting aside religion and beliefs, at the end of the day we know that our God, the one that we pray to, will be there for us at the end of the day. I think sometimes we can pray for big things, but your last line, “You appreciate him for keeping you alive, ” is a reminder that things we take for granted are things that God does for us too. Thank you for sharing this powerful poem.
SW, way to understand what most people on this planet do not, gratitude comes first! Always be thankful for everything you have and the way you wrote this poem clearly shows that.
Dear SW,
I enjoyed your poem! You did a great job with showing how religion can influence how people are trying to keep their mind off of the time they are doing in prison. I think finding something to keep you distracted from the mental issues that prison can do to people is great for keeping yourself sane. I agree with thanking your god for keeping you alive as you can be in a worse case scenario and instead of in prison be dead. This really made me think about my own situation and to be grateful for myself. Even though I am not religious myself, I have other hobbies that keep me distracted and happy so I can understand what you mean. Overall the poem was very inspiring! I hope you can keep religion in the front of your mind and keep your mind away from any depressing thoughts. Thank you for this poem and I wish you the best of luck.
Sincerely, JR
Dear SW, your poem is short but so powerful and packed with depth. I especially like your line about how project living earned a spot in the system instead of the millions you dreamed of. Your have a way with words that is really impressive and creative, but also emotive. I can sense a really deep story peaking out from behind this poem and I hope you keep writing to potentially share it. You are on a journey that I hope is fruitful and rewarding and not lonely. Keep writing! Best wishes, Roxanne
As someone who works with children in this enviornment it is so eye opening to see this prespective. Thank you for being so vulnerable to share your story. My hope is to help as many people in this enviornment understand that they can get out and do great things.
Our faith is the most important thing in life. Your strong faith is already better than “making millions”! Great job on your poem SW!
I think we can all take just being alive for granted. I myself notice my blessings when it’s something that I really want/hope for but often forget about the small things that are actually the biggest blessings (life, the ability to walk, see, hear–things that I am used to but not everyone has). Thank you for reminding us of our blessings and to thank the one from above who is responsible for goodness!
These words speak volumes to the perception of life on the street and the realities of actually living it. Prayer is such a power thing and reading your words on taking the opportunity to thank God for his grace made me pause and do just that. Thank you for sharing.
SW, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing your perspective how challenges in life impacted your course of life. However, despite what has happened you remain positive. Stay strong, continue to hold your faith, and keep writing
I like how your title helps convey the meaning of your poem. I think you do a really great job communicating such a powerful message in just a few quick lines. Stay humble, stay grateful. It may not seem like, but there’s a lot to be thankful for if you take the time to reflect on it spiritually.
SW, your writing is great and has a lyrical rhythm. Your honesty that project living “earned you a spot in the system” is profound and from your core. Your remembrance of faith during hard times is so important and I hope you cling to it. Continue writing and keeping your mind occupied!
SW,
this is a great poem about continuing to have faith and reminding oneself to keep your mind on the right track. I appreciate you being honest about your struggles and reminding us that we need to give thanks for our life and all we are given.
This poem is very emotional and touching. I can feel the author’s pain and beg. It doesn’t matter where you come from it matters where you want to go. If you always put your one hundred percent into what you do people will see and cherish your greatness. If life was easy everyone would be good at it. It would be boring and a challenge is what makes life enjoyable/rewarding. You got this and remember the best is yet to come!
I really like the rhythm in the poem. It is also really nice to see how your words express your gratitude for everything. Very empowering and reminds me to stay positive. Keep up the amazing work.
This is a great poem that really pulls me in. I am fascinated by your story and am glad that you are still alive. It is good that you have Allah to talk to because talking to God is one of the best outlets. Keep on striving to be the best you can be and to change yourself for the better.
Hello SW, your poem was great. I grew up livening in the projects in my town, so this hit me personally. Growing up poor has always been a struggle, and it’s always lead you to have high hopes and a big imagination for the future. I remember going through some tough times and making hard descions that would affect my life overall and luckily, I did what I needed to do to make life a little easier for myself. However, I’m aware not everyone has that luxury to have a chance to change or to grow up in a better place for the remaining time of your childhood/teen years. Growing up poor you think your set for failure, but you can do anything you put your mind too, all you got to do is get it done, and live by your own standards. Someone is always going to have more than you, and someone is always going to have less then you in this world so the best thing to do is what yours said, appreciate the things you have and living life itself. I want to thank you so much for sharing this poem, it truly was deep, and beautiful.
I wish you well! – Aaliyah
Hi SW,
Thanks for sharing your poem with us and highlighting the difficulties that living in the projects can do to an individual. I agree that growing up in abject poverty, around crime or violent situations environments can affect the growth and development and challenge a person from making better decisions. Hence, I appreciate that you still have a positive outlook on life and is greatful to be alive. Where there is life we still have hope and chance at redemption. I pray you find your ray of hope.
Keep writing, I’d like to learn more about your story and background .
SW, your dedication to your faith and your gratitude to God in the face of adversity is inspiring. I love the way you transition from your dreams of the past to the realities of your present and despite it note being exactly what you thought it would be, you exemplify such wisdom in seeing the divine in the mundane. Truly incredible work, thank you for sharing!
I like how you put faith as a motivator to push through your struggles in the projects and strive for greatness. Very well written!
Hi SW,
I would like to start off as saying I’m not a very religious person, but I thought this was really powerful. I admire how much you look to your god for help. Even though I may not believe in one specific god I believe in a higher power, and I think it’s really important to have something to look up to for help and guidance.
Good luck to you SW!
This poem really speaks to the path that so many follow when growing up around street life. Although it earned you a spot in the system, I am glad you discovered and realized that your faith is something that can help you through this time. Although your situation is not ideal, I like that you are optimistic and just grateful for being alive. Thanks so much for sharing.
Showing off you are vulnerable is what makes us humans. I thought that this piece was very powerful. Using your faith to be able to push through your struggles and strive for greatness is very admirable. Keep on writing and expressing yourself.
Hello SW, your poem was short but powerful. You have a way with words that is really impressive and creative. You were able to show how although a person can have a tough upbringing religion can play a major role. This was a reminder for me to stay positive. Thank you for sharing and keep up the good work.
Hi SW,
I really enjoyed reading this powerful poem. Your dedication to God and how you use him to handle challenges are inspiring. I really liked how you talked about your past but also your future. Thank you for sharing this powerful message.
Using your faith as motivation to get through all that you struggle with is a great thing. This poem was very moving and powerful. I hope you keep writing and look forward to reading more of your pieces. Great job!