Is This Home?
By JW
Is this prison,
or is this a cage?
Is this anger,
or is this rage?
Is this patience,
or is this delay?
Is this complaining,
or is this pray?
Is this rehabilitation,
or is this captivity?
Is this freedom,
or is this slavery?
Is this order,
or is this a mess?
Is this mental health,
or is this stress?
Is this yearning,
or is this a groan?
Is this temporary?
Or is this home?
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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.
This poem powerfully questions the difference between feelings and situations, showing the struggle between being trapped and seeking freedom. It captures the confusion and emotional conflict many face, especially when trying to make sense of difficult experiences.
This poem flowed beautifully: it had a consistent rhyme scheme that was easy to follow, and every line either ending with a comma or a question mark made the piece not only easy to read, but made it appear well organized on paper. I think the juxtaposition within each question, not being able to tell if something is positive or negative, really captured people’s angst and constant second-guessing of oneself, and ending on “home” instead of a negative really wrapped the piece up nicely.
Your words echo with courage and truth, giving voice to the silent struggles so many endure. Keep questioning and expressing—your mind is powerful, and your poetry is a light that refuses to dim.
Your questions are sharp, honest, and necessary—they reflect a mind that refuses to accept things at face value. Keep questioning and expressing yourself, because in doing so, you’re reclaiming your voice and revealing truths the world needs to hear.
I like the rhyme pattern used in this poem, it gives it a good structure
Hello, JW. I really enjoyed reading your poem. You got great writing skills. Don’t let prison life break your spirit.
This poem powerfully captures the tension between perception and reality. Each question challenges the reader to reflect on how easily emotions, experiences, and environments can blur together. It’s thought-provoking, haunting, and deeply introspective.
Your use of questions is incredibly powerful. It allows for reflection without prescribing answers. Each couplet holds weight, forcing the reader to pause and consider the questions that are asked. There’s a quiet strength in your rhythm and repetition. Lines like “Is this freedom, / or is this slavery?” and “Is this temporary? / Or is this home?” are powerful. You’ve captured the essence of internal struggle well. Your poem feels honest. There’s so much power in your ability to pose the hard questions. Keep writing.
This poem echoes with powerful dualities, questioning the blurred lines between confinement and liberation, and inviting deep reflection on what it truly means to be free.
This poem is incredibly powerful in its simplicity and rhythm. Each question digs deeper into the blurred lines between survival and suffering, hope and despair. The repetition forces the reader to sit with discomfort and ambiguity, which mirrors the emotional and psychological confusion of being confined—physically or mentally. The final line, “Or is this home?” hits like a quiet thunderclap—it’s haunting, and it leaves a lasting impact. Thank you for putting such complex emotions into such resonant, thought-provoking words.
JW, you are doing an excellent job of emoting. I think everyone feels these emotions in life sometimes, like they are trapped and not moving forward, when people are unhappy with themselves. You can only do the best you can with what you are handed and make sure that you only go up from here!
Something I notice is that this poem is relatable to someone outside of jail also. Thank you so much for sharing this. It’s so well written.
This is well written and makes me feel it’s relatable even without jail. I think the world needs your words more than you know. Thank you.
Hi JW,
I found this poem quite affecting. It uses simple compare-and-contrast structure to bring out something complex and moving. I feel the internal tension posed by some of the pairings (where is the line between complaining and praying? ). I also like that some of the contrasts are more obvious (like freedom and slavery), while others a bit more subtle (anger/rage, temporary/home). The poem evokes great questions as well as some of the feelings of what it must be like to be in such a hard place.
Please keep writing. I hope it is not facile to wish you strength to find more of the positives (patience, rehabilitation, mental health, and even freedom) where you are. (I almost wished that you find home there, but then I realized the dark edge to that sentiment, further highlighting how nicely your poem places ideas in tension.)
This is extremely thoughtful – I liked is this complaining or is this pray. Every word is evovactive .
I really liked your poem. I think that the comparisons were good and the short form of the sentences helped with the flow of the poem.
That was very well written
This poem is very powerful and thoughtful. The writer uses questions to show deep feelings and confusion about their situation. The repeating pattern makes the poem flow well and keeps the reader thinking. Each question makes you stop and reflect, which shows strong writing. Overall, it’s a meaningful and emotional poem that makes people think about freedom, identity, and belonging.
your poem made me stop and think. There’s quite depth in your words that really stayed with me. You captured emotions in a way that felt both personal and universal.
This Poem really sparks up a lot of emotions and thought that go through all of our heads during times when are faced with uncertainty. We have to remain hopeful and know that one day things will get better, the days will get easier and find the gift in just being able to live to see another day.
This poem powerfully explores the blurred lines between contrasting emotions and experiences. It raises deep questions about freedom, identity, and personal struggle, drawing attention to the tension between perception and reality, The repetitive structure effectively emphasizes the internal conflict and uncertainty in each scenario.
That last line hit different. Home isn’t where you sleep and eat. Home is where your loved ones are, the people that care about you and the people that you care about.
I really enjoyed the structure and repetition of this poem, especially the question format. The contrasting phrases do a good job of evoking confusion and more in-depth emotions, which add a level of emotion to this piece. Great job!
I enjoyed this poem because it shows how two-sided everything in life can be when you look at it from different perspectives and how you must view things from a second pov to grasp what is happening fully
This poem beautifully captures the power of questioning and the blurred lines between hope and despair, freedom and confinement. Each line invites deep reflection, showing how our perceptions can shift based on circumstance and emotion. Your words give voice to the internal conflict so many feel—reminding us that clarity often begins by daring to ask the hard questions.
The repeated questions build such a powerful rhythm, it’s like you’re thinking out loud but also calling out a system that confuses punishment with care. The last line gave me chills.
This poem provides a glimpse into agonizing emotional, psychological, and physical limbo that lies in questioning everything. The dualities presented in each stanza challenges the reader to consider how thin and blurry the line can be between what seems like opposites. I appreciate the vulnerability of this writer being able to capture the fragility of hope, as well as the uncertainty that not just lives, but thrives in institutional systems. You are seen and heard, continue expressing yourself.
I love this poem so much! It’s very telling of how the criminal justice system (corrections) can fail to provide effective rehabilitation and instead inflict stress, use prison as a means to exploit, and essentially strip individuals of their humanity rather than help them heal or grow. I believe this poem captured this unfortunate reality very effectively.
I absolutely love the structure of this poem – it’s effective and easy to read but each comparison makes you think in a new and unique way. I also admire the way you quietly address the difficulties in our justice system, and how it’s meant to provide rehabilitation but can also just end up making mental health worse. I especially love the comparison between “rehabilitation and captivity” and how nothing with both of those things at once is really effective. I hope that your poetry gives you meaning and strength to continue, and thank you for these powerful and thought-provoking words.
Your poem really made me think about how sometimes we feel stuck or trapped, but it’s not always what it seems. The way you ask, “Is this prison, or is this a cage?” shows how our minds can make things feel worse than they are. It’s like questioning if a bad situation is temporary or if it’s something we can change. I love how you end with, “Is this home?”—it makes me wonder if we can find peace even in tough times.
I really connected with your poem. The way you compare things like “anger” and “rage” or “rehabilitation” and “captivity” made me realize how our feelings can be confusing. It’s like you’re asking, “Is this really what I think it is?” and challenging us to look deeper. The last line, “Or is this home?” is powerful—it makes me think about finding comfort and belonging, even when life is hard.
I love this poem. It has incredible rhythm and flow and the use of questions is quite a strong choice. The matching rhyming ties the whole thing together.
JW, your poem reminds me of Langston Hughes’ “A Dream Deferred” a bit in the best possible way; I wonder if you know the poem or can find it? Like your poem, it explores the many different facets of a single idea. I really enjoyed how you examined prison from so many different angles–the order/disorder, the rehabilitation/captivity–and you ask a big question at the end, “Is this my home for NOW or forEVER?” I can think about this in a few different ways, and one of them spends some time wondering if how (if at all) the prison experience lives on inside a person even after they leave. You raise this and so many more important questions in your short verse, and you truly made me think deeply. I also really enjoyed your rhyme scheme; your poem flows so well and reads so easily, almost like a song. Keep writing, you have a gift.
JW, the structure of this poem blew me away. The rhyme scheme you chose really helped emphasize the struggle of being so far from home.
Hi there,
I really liked your poem because it made me think a lot about what society defines as home and insight into how people experience challenges. I like your usage of rhyming – I think it added to the effect by contrasting the actual experience with how society views incarceration as well as between the plentiful of words that describe the challenges in actuality. The story you conveyed through your writing is also really powerful, the movement from the title up until the final line really added to the effect as it completed the story and explained a key takeaway I learned!
JW what a great poem. The rhythm is fast and catchy. The contrast within each line makes it all the more poignant. I really like how everything is a question because it puts it on the reader to think through and relate to their own life. Please keep up this great writing!
Your poem really showed the struggle that some people endure when in prison. The constant questions was a very direct and successful way to show how prison can affect people and how sometimes there is not much hope. I enjoyed reading this poem! Good job!
Great job! I think this poem skillfully uses a series of thought-provoking questions to explore the blurred lines between confinement and freedom, healing and harm. The repetition and rhythm create a steady, reflective tone that invites readers to sit with the uncertainty and emotional tension behind each contrast. The final line, “Or is this home?” delivers a powerful emotional punch, capturing the struggle of finding identity and meaning within systems that feel both familiar and oppressive.
I love this poem! I’m praying that God covers you. I’m sharing your poem in my graduate class, which is titled Foundations of Corrections. This poem will help shed light on how works like yours can change public perception and serve as a powerful way to humanize those who are incarcerated. Thank you!
This poem is powerful in the way it asks questions without giving easy answers. Each line shows the confusion and struggle of being trapped, not knowing if it’s growth or just more confinement. The final question—“Is this home?”—hits hard, leaving the reader to sit with the tension between belonging and imprisonment.
This poem is moving and full of depth, using questions to draw out powerful emotions. I like how it balances struggle with reflection, making the reader think about what freedom and confinement really mean. The closing line leaves a lasting and emotional impact.
The author of this poem is searching for answers in the middle of their own struggle. They are questioning if prison is meant to fix someone or just break them down. The poem illustrates the tension between hope and despair as the author wonders if this prison has become their home.
This poem asks such powerful questions. I really like how each line challenges the reader to think about the difference between what things are called and what they truly feel like. It leaves a lasting impression of struggle, but also honesty.
This poem powerfully captures the tension between hope and confinement, asking sharp questions that linger with the reader. I liked how the rhythm of contrasts builds toward the haunting final line. Really well written!
This poem asks piercing questions that blur the line between punishment and belonging, making the reader feel the weight of uncertainty. I liked how the simple contrasts build into the haunting final question—really powerful.
This is powerful—the questions flow like a heartbeat, each one pressing deeper. I really like how you leave it open-ended, making the reader sit with the uncertainty and tension between confinement and identity. It feels like a dialogue between hope and despair.
This is powerful—the questions cut deep and make the reader sit with the tension between hope and despair. The repetition drives the weight of uncertainty, and it really captures the struggle of trying to find meaning in confinement
This poem really makes you pause and reflect. I like how you use pairs of questions to challenge the reader’s perspective and blur the line between very different ideas. The contrasts like freedom versus slavery or mental health versus stress show how complicated and uncertain these experiences can feel. The rhythm of the repeated “Is this” also adds to the sense of searching for clarity. The final question, “Is this temporary? Or is this home?” leaves a strong impact because it lingers in the mind and makes you think about how circumstances can shape our sense of belonging.
This poem hits with sharp clarity—the questions move like echoes, each peeling back the thin line between what’s claimed and what’s actually lived. I like how it forces the reader to sit in the ambiguity: prison vs. cage, freedom vs. slavery, home vs. captivity. That repetition makes the contradictions of incarceration undeniable. It’s not just personal—it’s political, showing how systems rename suffering as “order” or “rehabilitation.”
I like how this poem uses questions to blur the line between opposites, showing how prison creates uncertainty about meaning itself. The repetition of “is this” builds tension and makes the reader feel that same confusion and search for answers.
The questions you pose are powerful and thought-provoking, really pulling me into the tension between freedom and confinement.
This poem wonderfully uses contrast to explore the speaker’s feeling of uncertainty. I liked the repetition of “Is this” because it builds a sort of flow that speaks to the speaker’s inner conflict they suffer from, and for me, it made me truly feel the weight of their doubt. What stood out most is how each pair of choices blurs external and internal states, a struggle between the fine lines of psychological and physical states.
I really liked this piece — the questions you asked pulled me in and made me stop to think. I felt the struggle in your words, especially the tension between what something seems to be and what it really is. The ending question, “Is this home?” hit the hardest, because it shows how complicated and painful it can be to find meaning in a place that doesn’t feel free. It’s powerful and thought-provoking.
This poem thoughtfully explores what it means to call a place “home,” questioning whether it is shaped by comfort, freedom, or hardship. The powerful contrasts invite readers to reflect on resilience and the search for meaning and belonging even in the most difficult circumstances.
Hello! Thank you for sharing your poem. It is whatever it feels like to you. Your perspectives and feelings are valid.
Your poem “Is This Home?” is powerful in its simplicity and rhythm, using repetition and contrast to express deep confusion and pain. The questioning tone pulls readers into the speaker’s inner conflict—caught between hope and despair, reflection and reality. Each pair of opposites reveals how blurry the line is between justice and punishment, freedom and confinement. The structure is tight and consistent, giving the piece a strong, meditative flow that feels almost like a prayer. You might consider adding one or two more vivid images to make the emotions even more tangible, but its minimalism already makes it striking. Overall, it’s a haunting and thought-provoking poem that lingers long after reading.
This poem captures the struggle of being unknown of our condition. We want to know everything that is going on, self diagnosing every situation, but in reality the situation is normal. Normal as in “home”. I do not like the mix between confusion and clarity. It stresses me out how negative this poem is.
This poem really makes you stop and think. The repeated questions create such a strong feeling of confusion and reflection, like trying to make sense of what “home” even means in a place that doesn’t feel free.
It may look like it will last forever as each day you lose time and a little bit of yourself, but be carefull not to lose hope.
Home is where your people and loved ones are. Please do not forget that.
Stay strong!
I really love how you based this poem off of a simple question. I think what you could do to emphasize the feelings that this poem expresses is to go into the little details that come with life in prison. That is if you feel comfortable including that of course. For example, you can include a line that goes something like “Is this food, or is this bare supplement?” Though, you could probably come up with something better than what I provided. Again, you don’t have to go into detail. Just a an addition I thought could add to your work.
This poem is deeply introspective, using repetition and contrast to question the blurred lines between justice and confinement, healing and harm. Each pair of questions exposes the emotional and psychological ambiguity of imprisonment. Its tone is contemplative and haunting, capturing how systems meant to “rehabilitate” can instead erode one’s sense of self and home.
This poem is a powerful exploration of the concept of “home”, questioning whether it represents confinement, anger, or something more positive like rehabilitation or freedom. The repetition of “Is this…” followed by contrasting ideas creates a sense of uncertainty and introspection. The poem invites the reader to consider the different facets of home, from the physical space to the emotional state it evokes.
This poem shows feelings like confusion and being trapped. Through a series of unique, contrasting questions, you show some confusion about your place in the world. The repetition in your poem makes it feel frustrated and doubtful. The last line of your poem creates a somber feeling of fear, and the pain of isolation is created.
This is a very powerful poem. You’ve truly captured the feeling of confusion, lack of home, and raw emotions. Your poem makes me think of being in a place where you are unsure and you don’t feel at home. It exemplifies a struggle. One that is often overlooked. This is truly an emotive piece. Thank you for sharing.
I like how every question challenges what we think we understand, it shows how blurred the line is between freedom and confinement, peace and pressure.
I like this — the whole piece feels like a series of honest questions people are scared to say out loud. The back-and-forth between the two possibilities in each line really shows the confusion + frustration of trying to name what you’re actually living through. It reads like someone trying to figure out truth in a place that keeps lying about what it is.
Hello JW. This is a very powerful poem. It is a poem that asks the appropriate questions when we think about mass incarceration and prison. Not only are these relevant questions, but there is clear emotion behind it that I believe adds more power to these words.
I really felt this poem. The way you ask questions in every line shows how confusing and heavy it is to sit with all these emotions in prison (anger, patience, stress, hope, everything mixed together). The repetition makes it feel like we’re inside your thoughts as they keep circling and searching for meaning. Some of the lines hit hard, especially “Is this rehabilitation, or is this captivity?” and “Is this freedom, or is this slavery?” Those questions say so much without needing a long explanation. You show how the system talks about helping but often does the opposite, and you put that feeling into really simple but powerful words. The ending also stuck with me, “Is this temporary? Or is this home?” That last question is painful in a real way, like you’re fighting against the idea of getting used to something you never should’ve been put in. It really made me think about how long term confinement messes with someone’s sense of what home even means anymore.
Hello JW! This poem asks powerful questions about what prison really feels like on the inside. You show the confusion between what things are supposed to be and what they actually feel like. It’s a strong reflection on identity, freedom, and the search for a sense of home. Wonderful job, I enjoyed reading this so much!
Your poem uses repetition and paired questions in a really powerful way to show the confusion, frustration, and emotional uncertainty of incarceration. Each contrast, freedom vs. slavery, patience vs. delay, rehabilitation vs. captivity, highlights how the system blurs the line between what it claims to offer and what it actually does. I especially like the way the poem builds toward the final question, “Is this temporary? Or is this home?” because it captures the painful reality of feeling stuck in a place that was never meant to define you. The simplicity of the language makes the emotions hit even harder, and the rhythm of the questioning invites the reader to sit with the discomfort rather than look away. Overall, it’s a strong and thought-provoking piece.
Thank you for your words. These simple words hold lots of value. Thank you for being vulnerable and please continue to use your voice. The world wants to hear what you have to say.
Your poem asks powerful questions that reveal the confusion, pain, and longing within confinement. The contrasts you draw make the reader feel the struggle between hope and despair. It’s honest, gripping, and beautifully reflective.