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. These 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.
Click on the poem title to open it up, and then post your comments, feedback, and encouragement in the space below the poem.
A Message to the Community: A Letter from Prison
By RW
I offer my condolences to the families who have lost loved ones
And became victims to the violence
I offer my apologies for having been derelict in my duty and responsibility as a man
In not being the guardian, educator, and leader my communities needed
In order to be vital and life-affirming
I want to inform you that it is my goal to counteract the insanity of the destructive mindset
And I do not embrace those who prey upon any people
But particularly, my people
I want my voice to be heard:
Let the violence, drug dealing, physical, and spiritual abuse of the communities stop
As a man, I want it to be known that I have come to value and recognize
That the children need and deserve a safe and secure environment in which to grow and develop,
Be educated, have access to equal opportunities to excel,
And become who the Creator intended them to be
I ask that everyone reading or hearing this looks at a child
Whether at home, school, at play, in church, or mosque, and consider these words:
I am the African child
The whole world awaits my coming, all the earth watches with interest
To see what I shall become
Civilization hangs in the balance; for what I am, the world of tomorrow will be
I am the African child
You have brought me into this, about which I know nothing
You hold in your hand my destiny
You determine whether I shall succeed or fail
Give me, I beg you, a world where I can walk tall and proud
Train me, as is your duty unto me
To love myself, and my people
And to build and maintain a great nation
It is I who proclaim
I am the African child
The whole world awaits my coming, I shall not delay it
For I too have a dream
Paint Brush
By TD
I keep my paint brush with me
Where ever I may go
In case I need to cover up
So the real me doesn’t show
I’m so afraid to show you me,
Afraid of what you’ll do – that
You might laugh or say mean
Things
I’m afraid I might lose you
I’d like to remove all my paint
Coats
To show you the real, true me
But I want you to try and
Understand
I need you to accept what you see
So if you will be patient and close
Your eyes
I’ll strip off all my coats real slow
Please understand how much it
Hurts
To let the real me show
Now all my coats are stripped off
I feel naked, bare and cold
And if you still love with all
That you see
You are my friend, pure as gold
I need to save my paintbrush
Though
And hold it in my hand
I want to keep it handy
In case somebody doesn’t
Understand
So please protect me, my dear
Friend
And thanks for loving me true
But please let me keep my paint
Brush with me
Until I love me too
COVID-19
By GD
Never have I witnessed something so horrific
A pandemic! World crisis! Coronavirus!
It struck so suddenly, moved so rapidly
A catastrophe!
Death tolls are beyond anything imaginable
How did so many die before it was taken seriously?
Now we have “somewhat” prevention
Insistence on practicing social distance
But no vaccine, treatment, or cure
However, our Commander in Chief declared war?
In that case, this must be World War III
And still counting casualties
It has to be, something more we can do to calm us
Because this “pandemic” has caused pandemonium among us
Frantically panicking, our first preservation is self
So we are racing impatiently to clean out every shelf
Worried about bills, but don’t have a clean bill of health
And this virus is collecting on any past debts
Am I getting through yet?
Simple cause and effect, they neglect the cause of death
But focus more on the cost of the threat
Now we enter the realm of economics, politics at its best
But from a worldwide view, it just looks like a big mess
Now, how can we fix that?!
When the fear of going broke is greater than the fear of dying
When losing your job is greater than losing your life
In spite of the incompetence of our leaders
We will defeat this COVID-19
Forgiving Myself
By HM
At times I wonder if I can really forgive myself for all the bad things I’ve done! Then I ask myself, why not? If I don’t start with my own self, who’s going to do it for me first.
My past self would say damn I was right. If I shouldn’t start forgiving myself, how could I do it for somebody else.
I want the courage to tell all the ones, that one day considered me as an enemy, that I have forgiven you all for all those things that once you did to me.
When I look up I see the sky and the clouds but far away, I can see God of me has been proud.
Inside my heart, I hear my stress has been released.
My heart desires to forgive everybody, to forgive myself.
My circumstances at this moment are not the best, but I keep going without falling.
Forgiveness is wealth like nothing in the world.
That’s why I love myself.
Welcome to the Fort
By RW
Let me tell you about a place I know
Filled with broken dreams and lost hope
A place if visited within your dreams
Would turn nightmarish by thoughts provoked
A place created many years ago
When a father was taken from the only child he knew
Now he’s stuck in memories as time goes on
Trapped in a world where thoughts never move
A place you need to see in order to believe
Filled with desperate cries and dreamy screams
A city where angels turn dark and cold
Now demons plundering for the hope of lost souls
A place where children are stripped of their youth
Left alone with no direction and confused
As time ticks forward, away from their past
They run backwards towards a time they never had
A fortress built to captivate souls
Whose burden on society was way overbearing
Within it, worlds residing in a timeless space
Humanity has chosen to ignore
Relentless
By ML
Every day I pray that things will get better
Every day I say that I will keep working hard
No matter what’s pulling me the other way
Every day I pray that times will get better
Every day I say I will get back to my family
And no one will stop me
Every day I pray, no matter what I have God by my side
Each and every day!
Every day I say that I will get free
Every day I pray that I will get home
In one piece
Every day I say I won’t let no one stop me
Every day I pray that my life won’t go back to the streets
Every day I say I’m going to do the right thing and go the other way
Every day I pray God will keep leading me in the right way
And not the wrong
Every day I say, I won’t let no one pull me back the other way
Every day I pray that freedom take me the right way!
I Wonder Why
By MC
Sometimes it feels like pain is my destiny
I’m emotionally imbalanced and mentally fried
My social is cool but I don’t know these guys
My pain is not outer it’s more within
Not a broken finger but a promise
A lie told from a friend
My heart normally beats love
It’s been beating poison out lately
Not a gift but a curse
The upside-down frown just got straightened
Untitled
By VC
Sit in a cell 24/7/365 and tell me if you can think straight
Boxed in/locked in/no family/no friend
Just a beginning/no end/can’t breathe/no air
Mind gone with the wind/aging fast/seeing the skin peel
Seeing the hair turn grey/seeing where was once a smile
Turn to despair/dying from thirst/drinking your own tears
Knowing it can’t get no worse/bags below the eyes
You hear that soothing voice/let it out/for everybody cries
Exceeded Doubt
By MR
When they said I couldn’t, I did…
When they said I wasn’t enough, I became more than what they expected…
When they said it was over, I told them this is just the beginning…
When they told me I had potential, I showed them absolute greatness…
Just when they started to believe, I was already years into believing in myself…
Because they expectations never mattered enough to stop my dreams from becoming the very reality I’ve created…
So when they ask how you done it, smile and tell “them” that’s for you to know, and for them to find out.
On the Same Page
By JA
When I read, I’m alive not dead
The words tell me so much I’ve read
On the page, I’ve met the other travelers
On the page, I’ve been to the favelas
On the page, I’ve felt heartbreak, elation, scorn
I read to learn, move on
When I read, I feel alive, not dread
When I read I know where to head
When I meet you on the page, I smile, nod head in acknowledgement
When I write I use plenty emotion
My words express whatever mood I’m in
I want you to understand my position, my thoughts
Hear me out let me in on this paper
My pen will talk
I write to tell you what’s inside
When I write, I feel, know I’m alive
When I write, you know my objections, you honor my war cries
When you meet me on the page, you also might smile
The Tears I Cry
By DWS
Look in my eyes
& you’ll see the tears I cry
As I lie back on my bed
The vivid memories of my family
& I flow through my head, I’ll be a liar
If I say, I didn’t see this coming
Growing up in the city of D.C
Wasn’t always peaches & cream for me
I was always told by many I’m worthless
& would never amount to anything
Many nights I’ve set in the dark
Wondering if there was someone
There who could heal my broken heart.
My father was never there
So my mother had to do it alone
Struggling just to make ends meet
Raising 6 kids in a 3 bedroom home
To see my mother do this taught me that
Women are very strong, & I praise her
Every day for not leaving me alone
That’s why it hurt me
Because I never got the chance to truly thank her
& say goodbye because I was sitting in an 8.10 cell
When she died, just the thought of it
Brings tears to my eyes
Now look at me & tell me
Can you see the tears I cry
The people I thought loved me
1 by 1 all started to dissipate
& I realize they were never there for love
It was just the material things & again I find myself
Feeling alone like I once did before
& I yearn for my heart to be healed once more
But the biggest pain of all makes
Me feel ashamed & weak so much so
That I catch myself crying in my sleep
& that’s knowing I’ve abandoned
My children as my father did &
Becoming him was something I never
Thought I’ll be. Wondering will they
Hate me like I hated him makes
Me shiver in fear from limb to limb
The black white walls of my cell
Turns into a movie screen
& the memories of my past become
My mental pain
I start to feel my eyes water
& then the tears flow
& I think to myself
When will my pain go
Inshallah it’s soon
But, I have to remain patient
Until I come to know
Although people see me smile
& laugh a lot
I often wonder if they can also
Look at me & see
The Tears I Cry
Smile
By GD
I was still a juvenile and convicted as a child
Though sentenced as an adult
But still I smile…
I think about my reality and realize just how real it is
Then I laugh….
I don’t laugh because it’s funny
But because its “funny” how a young black man could
So easily succumb to his environment
But still I grow…
I’ve come to know many things, dreamed many dreams
All while living a nightmare
But still I ponder…
I’ve created wonderful things once I considered my intellect
As a key to unlock the box my mind’s been in for years
So now I know….
Though life has its adversities, and sometimes it can
Be a tremendous burden
I still got to walk that extra mile
Even if my feet are hurting
So, I’ll continue to smile….