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.
For the Birds…
By DC
They say prison is for the birds you know,
But I think those who say it just don’t understand…
Because the other day I was in my window,
When I just happen to see one land…
And I saw the look in its eyes, when it observed the scene,
And when it noticed where it was at…
It noticed the place was over crowded with people,
Some White, some Mexican, Some Black …
It saw how they all was separated in sections,
It guess it was because of their color…
It wonder, shouldn’t they be standing against the system,
But they chose to stand against each other…
It saw the food the people ate was at the bottom of the barrel,
To the point, it rather keep eating worms…
It never seen a place so filthy,
And they say it’s the one with germs…
It watched all the looks on the people’s faces,
Some showing depression, anger, and it can understand,
Because a place like this got to be built only to break the strongest man…
But they say prison is for the birds you know,
Well, I find it hard to say…
Because if prison is built for the birds like they thought,
Then why can it fly away?
Longing for Lost Love
By CM
Companionships are often broken
Let me be blunt and open
I’d rather be sunk than soaken
When love’s washed away
‘Cause losing love is torture
Misery often follows
Millions of dreams of marriage
My heart’s a sleepy hollow
I must release this sorrow
But I cling to her smile
I itch to fix this heartbreak
I’ve been a fiend all the while
When she sings, flowers blossom
When she cries the sun loses light
As she sleeps my soul is at ease
So I’m most at peace during the night
Let me know everything is all right
Even though you’ve chosen to move on
I’ll be here to tend to your heart
Anytime it’s broken or torn
And then maybe ours can mend…
Under the Jail
By SC
So very far, way way down deep
There’s brothers’ souls stuck in the foundation and the price they paid was not cheap
I think of the good men who passed through jail
And those who didn’t make it because for them it was hell
Under the jail, where I now reside
I’m sure there’s plenty of head stones, cats that passed from pride
Use to be if I had one wish, I’d use it all on me
Now if I had just one, I’d set all my brothers and sisters locked down all go free
Under the jail is where you’d think they’d put all their worst
But I’ve met doctors and lawyers that all share the same curse
That’s just the distance that I was willing to climb down to
Imagine going deeper and what could be found by the likes of you
Under the jail, them folks like to hide all their mistakes
And they’re secure with their decisions because most people don’t climb down that for they don’t have what it takes
I’m here so far down, I sometimes feel the heat from the earth’s core
I’m not a threat to anyone, but deeper down they seem to even push me more
Now this is just my version of what I see under the jail
There’s millions of us locked up with different stories to tell
What’s under your Jail?
Once Upon A Time
By GL
Once upon a time . . .
I lived my life, as though any day could of been my last.
At the tender age of 15, that was how I was living.
THUG LIFE wasn’t just a cool slogan for me
It was a religion.
Amen . . . .
A man . . . manifested a plan
To cultivate the minds and land of his people
THE PEOPLE
We shall overcome . . . some day
But for now, we can forget about being treated socially equal
Maybe in 30 yrs or so . . . in a 100 yrs or mo’
What you reap you sow . . . When I think I GROW
When I think I GLOW . . . When one think, it SHOWS
Think about it . . .
Scratch your head and blink about it
Dropped some jewelry, the impact knocked a link up out it
Once upon a time . . .
I was of a different mind
On the block all the time – committing different crimes
I grew up poor . . . refrigerator on E, my bed was the floor
Ventured down a different path
Opened a different door
Emotions became a wrath
The block became my whore
Money became my b****
My b**** became my god
And GOD became a myth . . .
My salvation, was inside a spliff
The burning bush was burning
My world was turning, upside down
A child hood was lost – a light was found
Society is out of bounds, to the undesirables
Kids wanting to be what they see on cable
Damn near every household possess a Cain and Abel
Damn near every parent in my hood was unstable
A half full 40oz in the fridge, a bag of red hot chips on the table
Crack pipes stashed in the medicine cabinets
It’s easy for the youth to gravitate, to the GHETTO FABULOUS
Gangsters, killers and hustlers
Foreign whips, and customers
Fly girls lust for us
Feeling like you on top of the world
But all along, you’re on top of nothing
At least, you’re on top of something
Even if it’s on top of nothing
Once upon a time . . . I was of a different mind
My 3rd eye was blind to the symbols and signs
Now I can see CLEARLY
New Life
By RF
I’m a changed man, with this New Life
AIM for success
I finally got it right
All the drugs and stuff
Those are old habits
Negative people, you can have it
Healthy living, that’s all me
I’m shining bright like a diamond
Can’t you see?
I feel like a newborn baby
It feels lovely to breathe New Life
My REENTRY into the outside world won’t be much of a fight
Living Life
I’m just living life
Come join me in this New Life
My changed ways was for the better
AIMING for success
I won’t rest until I reach it
I know my new way of living
Will make my loved ones proud
It’s my new certificate of completion
My New Life
I’ll just sit back
And SMILE.
They Don’t Want Us to Recite Our Poems
By AG
They don’t want us to recite our poems, don’t want the people to behold any signs or see any symbols and they d-mn sure don’t want us to know that the ancestors are with us. They don’t want us to recite our poems.
They fear the foreign sounds of our secret language: Hope. They thought it long dead. They are afraid of the spread of our fever how it creeps along the sense—our hearing and seeing, our awakening perception, our ability to sniff out what’s false.
The willingness to feel our most painful wound, the taste of blood on our lips. They don’t want us to recite our poems.
They are afraid of the promise of our spring, the way mother earth blushes green for us, hiding her gift in full view of both the strong and weak alike.
She has shown us fine stones in a babbling brook: love, faith, courage, tenacity, and understanding. They fear the inevitable fall of their rampaging giants.
They don’t want us to recite our poems. They want us to die with our songs unsung. They want to bury our burnt-out husks perfectly preserved shells, with sightless eyes of bitter black smoke and a mouthful of tightly clenched pearl-white teeth, trapping inside, for all eternity, the music that they desperately fear.
They don’t want us to recite our poems.
Balance
By DJ
I’ve been in this world,
for a short time.
Countless tears
wasted on
nothing an’ no ones
Feeling like my
life is over
before it has begun
Yet why is it
that I haven’t given
up the fight
to right my wrongs
and raise my son right
I have travelled the hardest road
been from this penitentiary to
the next
but no one cares
but me
My life means so much more
to me than it use to
I feel like a bird without
a nest
The hopes and dreams that came so
fast can only be a rendition
of my f-ed up past
Drumming Pains
By TO
Listen to the pains of the beating drum
Mental Anguish
Ba.dum.ba.dum.dum
The sounds of a mind taking a beating
Sent to the ghettos, stripped from their kingdom
Bum.Dum.Ba-dum.bum
Its hide screams at every beat that comes
Ba.Dum.Ba.Dum.Dum
Rhythm & Blues; Pain never sounded so good
Embracing our culture, if they only understood
Ba.dum.Ba-dum.bum
Heavy bass on the beat soothes my mind on these streets
Nighttime, my baby went to sleep on my heartbeat
BA.BUM.BA.BUM.BA.BUM
Voluptuous hips rock to the heavy beat of the soul
Synchronized to the sound of its own
Whum-bum.Whum.bum.bum
A powerful nation, the beat of its throne
An unstoppable machine feared cuz they know
Ba.dum.Ba.dum.Bum
That soulful beat passed down for centuries
Voices are heard from lungs never empty – full of life
These drumming pains have history
Ba.dum.Ba-dum.Bum
So next time you hear heavy bass or that bellowing drum
Listen to its spirt; that beat where I come from
Ba.dum.Ba.dum.Bum
Untitled
By RTC
To my loving sweetheart, I do admit
Even though we’re apart, my love for you will never quit.
You spark my world with your loving ways,
With pleasure that carries me through for days and days.
I miss you dearly and your pleasing personality,
That is surely pleasing and very special to me.
Truth be told, no matter how old,
Your love is so warm—never cold.
You are the one who won my heart over
Helped me to stay strong and forever sober.
You’ll always be my one and only true love,
As I thank our creator, our God above.
With you I long to be,
For a lifetime—once I’m free.
You’re more important to me than money,
You’re sweeter to me than honey.
With me—in my heart, you’ll always have a place,
For only you can put such a smile on my face.
I hope all is well for you out there,
And know my dear, how much, I-really-do-care.
Things of That Nature
By DC
Yeah they say I grew up where I’m not wanted.
Where my surroundings are beautiful,
and all the others growing look different than me.
But who’s to blame?
‘Cause I know I was planted here for a reason.
Even if the world don’t know or see.
They trust all the others,
with their pretty faces that just make you give them attention.
And their sharp bodies that make people be careful how they handle them,
if touching them is their intention.
Who’s to say I’m not just as beautiful, and deserve some respect and power?
Cause even though they’re roses and I’m a dandelion,
I’m still considered a flower.
Black, Gifted, and Proud
By DB
Since I’m Black and considered 1/3 of a man
They feel I can only relate to crime
My physical imprisonment is a tactic
To conceal thoughts produce by my creative,
Innovative strength of mind
I’m united as one man
& hope my Brothers and sisters will unite as one Klan
Stripped of our nationality and culture
Only to become ancestors to no land
My pigmentation is a pig temptation
To annihilate our race and uplift America
To a white man nation
The truth is basic
Only seek by those willing to see
If you choose to face it you’ll learn
What seem to still be confusing to me
One nation under God
Was facilitated by a façade
To weaken our defenses from simply
Oppressing the odds
Now who’s in charge
The last decision
Is OURS
As a whole we must proclaim
We’re Black, Gifted and Proud.