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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

They Don’t Hear Me

They Don’t Hear Me

By Free Minds Book Club | April 18, 2022 | 42

The sound of my mother’s voice
“J.R. you are not dumb,
just pay attention”
as I sit staring at the math problems
the tutor has in front of me

but they don’t hear me

Read More

We See Nothing Wrong

By Free Minds Book Club | April 11, 2022 | 54

Patching up holes in “old” drywall,
Sanding down all that lies rough,
Painting over mistakes with white paint…
Left me with a “spot” of new.

Read More

Me and My Pen

By Free Minds Book Club | April 4, 2022 | 72

The bond we share is unbreakable
The love I have for you is not overrated
The feeling I have for you is real
The energy you give me is good

Read More

Whose, Who

By Free Minds Book Club | March 28, 2022 | 14

Can you see, see?
Whose really free, free?
We are caged, people are caged, animals are caged
This keeps me so, so raged!

Read More

Story of My Life

By Free Minds Book Club | March 21, 2022 | 48

My life is like a notebook filled with empty pages
Bitter words and blank statements
I stare at the pages and try to picture
What should go in these spaces

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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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Upcoming Events

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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