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.
Untitled
By VB
I came from nothing
or so they claim.
But something from nothing
is outrageous.
You need
at least
a lil’ bit
to make
anything.
I’m here to stay,
forever I’ll remain
a Free Mind,
Open Heart.
My actions
you won’t dictate.
Platforms
By JK
Platforms and I’m not talking about the shoes,
I’m writing about the people speaking who don’t have a clue
Platforms that were built on my L4 and L5,
giving me chronic back pain from all the verbal jive
Let’s expand on this privilege, the subject at hand,
this platform of yours where you make your grandstand
So absorbed in your spot that you place others in the dark,
never even a thought to appreciate their written art
What is an effort if not the effort to simply write,
judgmental of creativity where comes your insight
In the sixteen-hundreds, the rave was the selling of slaves,
all carried out on high from the platforms that was raised
A jumble of words is all that we saw,
yet 3/5ths of a man was written constitutional law
Words are intentions behind inventions
so next time you’re on that platform…
before I was
and after I am…
End of the Road
By TG
3:30 in the morning
not a soul in sight.
The prisons like a ghost town
when the guards turn off the lights.
Teardrops only tattoos
there’s no crying for my sins.
I’m heading back to somewhere
I said I’ll never go again.
end of the road
end of the road
End of the road
like the end of life
you feel yourself
grow cold the
more days go by
and you say goodbye
to all you know
and so you part
end of the road.
You don’t feel like a man
when they tell you to strip down.
Open your mouth
bend over
squat, cough
and turn around.
Jumpsuit and a bedroll
and a number for your name
white, black, rich, or poor
you are treated all the same.
end of the road
end of the road
End of the road
like the end of life
you feel yourself
grow cold the
more days go by
and you say goodbye
to all you know
and so you part
end of the road.
You never really adjusted
and it shows deep in your eyes.
Doing things you’re ashamed of
just to make sure you survive.
And just like winter storms
the rain can turn to snow
and the lightning flashes
could save lives
for those at the end of the road.
Dream
By JP
As I find myself getting lost in the world of illusion,
Where perception is nothing more than constant confusion
Which catches me by surprise
Like kids opening gifts on birthdays
and the gift leaves them in utter amazement
Or like doing something and forgetting the task at hand or what you were doing
Or like arguments or hurtful words said
from points being proven
I dream sometimes…
Of broken hearts that I’ve ruined,
Of empty promises never kept,
Of walls of trust being penetrated until hatred is the only emotion left
I dream sometimes…
Of you fully forgiving me
For the mistakes that I made
and how I failed you endlessly
I dream sometimes…
Why Do I Hate Love?
By TS
Why do I hate Love?
Cause Love don’t have no heart.
Love don’t care about nobody,
and loves to rip you apart.
Love causes pain
Love causes stress
Love is just misery, confusion, and evil
at its best.
Why do I hate Love?
maybe cause Love hates me.
Love been treating me wrong and unkind
Since I was lil babe.
I was born in the 90s
To a mother who always say she Loves me
but her Love was neva true.
To a father I’ve neva seen before
not even once in a blue.
Why do I hate Love?
Cause Love made me look like a fool.
Use and abuse me like some worthless tool.
Love is cruel
and you’ll be the fool if you think it’s nice.
Every time I showed Love
I paid a tremendous price.
Love ain’t s***.
I’m my own witness.
Love did me wrong too many times
and will neva get my forgiveness.
Why do I hate Love?
‘Cause everybody I thought love me
turnt they back on me
especially when they put them
handcuffs and shackles on me.
Nobody will neva love me for me
they will just love me for what I got
and when all that’s gone
then they’ll just love me not.
Why do I hate Love?
Cause Love brought me to tears.
Love makes me show weak emotions
Like desperation and fear.
Love made me feel ways I’ve neva felt.
So I made a promise I’ll neva Love s***
not even myself.
If you choose to Love Love, search for Love, Chase Love
I promise I will neva judge.
But, when Love does you wrong
and it will!!!!
You can always read Why I Hate Love.
But before I go
Let me tell you why I hate Love the most
Cause it turnt me into something I wish I wasn’t
and that’s a young black man with no hope…..
Word Journey
By MH
If emotions take over from its want to speak their piece,
the body will follow and let the message come out
now here, lip service can die or travel by word of mouth
the answer lies between words coasting thru ears
and comprehension making the sounds worthwhile
seems like talk is either gossip or gospel
some truth maybe falsehood intertwined in the grapevine
I’m wondering who said it best
politicians, preachers, pimps, professional talkers of the same kind
or is the listener more important digesting the verbal fruit into their minds
all depends on what the conveyer has to say
my thoughts end with my pen seeking to communicate
thanks to whose eyes reading this page
A Young Black Prince Dream
By HC
Young black prince
living in a world
that don’t recognize your presence,
your existence feeling
the wrath of your resistance,
seeing the hate in your eyes
from morning and evening news lies.
Young black prince,
the odds are against you
but you have to hold strong
like a clenched black fist,
mighty enough to turn
your past into existence
from a prince to a king!
A young black prince dream!
What I Don’t Say
By AB
When I say freedom
You hear closing cell doors
When you say freedom
I hear soft cries
What I can’t say is peace of mind
What I mean is sanity
When you say peace
Do you mean paradise?
What I wish I’d told you is be patient
What I want you to know is hope exist
Forgotten Wings
By MS
Forgotten wings
Disused & abandoned
Tricked self into believing that you (we) couldn’t fly
World weary… head heavy
Barely sleeping
Fitfully resting my eyes
Dazed
Does this pass for dreaming
I can feel the wind on my face
Eyes – wide open
I can see these wings carrying me to the other side…
At second glance, I realize that I am dreaming
It wasn’t me soaring
Dis-used & abandoned
Seeking the courage to spread my wings
And fly on forgotten wings
Family Picture
By LC
After Slugg: A Boy’s Life in the Age of Mass Incarceration by Tony Lewis Jr.
There’s something missing with this picture
As I wake onto a random day
In a random hood
In a random city
In America
I listen
Listen to the voice of my mother
Shouting down the bickering of my
Little sister and little brother
But there’s something missing
So I look
Look to find my auntie on the couch
With my baby cousin in hand
Look out the window to find the neighborhood junkie
But he is not the MAN
I’m looking for
See that man has been gone for years
Gone from this family’s struggles
Gone from being this family’s muscle
Gone from this family’s daily hustle
Ironic that I used that last word
‘cause HUSTLE is what got him sentenced
To no return, L.I.F.E.
So my father is what’s missing with this picture
My uncle too
And to every other black child
In a random hood
In a random city
In America
I’m just like you too.
I Saw A Cloud
By AG
I saw a cloud pass by today
It reminded me of you
It was just one cloud out of many,
but out of all the clouds in the sky,
I saw it. It caught my eye and my eyes lingered
on it until it hid behind a bigger cloud
I knew it was there still, waiting a moment
before showing itself again
And there it was, with its gentle curves
and mysterious nature, one moment this shape, then the next moment another.
As the cloud passed by the sun,
it grew more bright and cheerful, but the further away it drifted, the darker it became.
It’s 4:38 now and you’re raining, and the sky is dark.
I SAW A CLOUD!
This Is Who You Are To Me
By CJ
In my ocean, you are a rainbow fish
Because you have beautiful colors
In my grassy field, you are a flower
Because you smell good
In my galaxy you are a planet with moons
Because you keep our family together
In my heart you are the blood
Because you keep me alive
You are my world