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  • GET INVOLVED
    • Join Our Email List
    • Bring Free Minds to Your Group
    • On the Same Page: Write Night
    • Intern or Volunteer With Us
    • Give Poetry Feedback
    • Work With Us
  • DONATE
    • Donate Online
    • Other Ways to Donate
    • Employer Matching Gifts
    • Donate Books
    • New! Merch Store
  • About Us
    • Mission & Vision
    • Who We Are
    • In The Press
    • Supporters
    • National Projects
    • Resources For Educators
    • Resources For Incarcerated People
    • New! Merch Store
    • Contact Us
  • Our Work
    • Book Clubs and Writing Workshops
    • Reentry Services
    • On the Same Page
    • Books by Free Minds
    • Connect Magazine
    • Congressman John Lewis Fellowship
    • Thrive Under 25
    • Success Stories
  • News & Events
  • Poems
  • Contact Us

Inspired By Art: Untitled (Keeping Clean)

Inspired By Art: Untitled (Keeping Clean)

By Free Minds Book Club | November 17, 2011 | 1

Keeping clean Staying up How Gotta get it How I’mma get it No, no Ay it ain’t no other way Yeah it is but it slipped my mind Consequences Jail.

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Inspired By Art: Tied Up

By Free Minds Book Club | November 17, 2011 | 0

How you want it? Tied up by hands and feet, Or hanging from the power line? Are your new expensive sneaks Where you want it? In an 8×10 cold, hard…

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Inspired By Art: I Had the Choice

By Free Minds Book Club | November 17, 2011 | 2

Bound, tied down, held against my will. Trapped by my own words, Bound by my own actions, Tied for my own choice, But I had the choice so was it…

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Inspired By Art: Reminds Me of Me

By Free Minds Book Club | November 17, 2011 | 1

The first picture reminds me of the predicament that I’m in Locked down with nothing to think about but my life It makes you think before you react And this…

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What I Would Have Done Differently

By Free Minds Book Club | November 10, 2011 | 1

“Where you goin bro?” “Don’t worry I’ll be back soon.” “But you don’t want to get your a** whipped in this madness.” “Naw bro I’m gonna be back to get…

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About the Poetry Blog

The poets featured on this page 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, and it 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.

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On the Same Page: Write Night

January 27, 2021, 7:00 – 8:30 PM

Read and respond to poetry by incarcerated writers! Registration is required; click here to RSVP.

Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop

Free Minds uses books, creative writing, and peer support to awaken incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youths and adults to their own potential. Through creative expression, job readiness training, and violence prevention outreach, these poets achieve their education and career goals, and become powerful voices for change in the community.

Winner of the 2015 Aspen Ideas Award from the Aspen Institute, the Justice Potter Stewart Award from the Council for Court Excellence, and the Library of Congress Best Practices in Literacy Award.

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