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.
P.O.M.E (Product of My Environment)
By ZF
I from where what you see is what you get
most things I’ve seen I want to forget
But I’ll remember this forever!
Sunny shining and it’s still bad weather
Think it’s a dream but it’s a living nightmare
growing up in the hood made me want to get out of there
But it’s hard to get out of the trap!!
It’s a set up to end up dead or in the system
Most people are either suspects or a victim
Some took another route and beat the odds
They learned how to play their cards
Even when dealt a bad hand
At a early age I was turned into a man
Everything that I went through made me who I AM
Muteness
By KR
America
For over half
of my natural existence
in this world
I’ve lingered
In sullen silence
Slowly withering away
like a dandelion without water
Battling the cruelty
of solitary confinement
Which equates
to a sophisticated form
of no-touch torture
and subliminal violence
But simply because I occupy
this small confined space
in repressed silence
doesn’t mean I don’t have
anything to say
about this inhumane fashion
of psychological abuse
you continue to force
me to embrace….
Muteness.
Comfort
By CD
A wounded soul,
A broken heart,
A battle for mental repairment.
I compare your tone with the look in your eyes,
To your embrace which states explicitly in utter silence.
You do not have to speak for fatigue rules,
The contour of your body’s aura, for you had personified importantly in principle.
It’s still there beneath your skin?
Strength and truth!
Comfort and power!
Fire that burns your drive!
The elegance of your character,
Think of the air you breathe?
A FRESH START
Balanta
By JS
Fred
George, Malcolm, & Che
Have been my guiding light
As my world turns.
Sitting in the same cages
They sat in before me
Reading the words they left
But connected to them through
Shared suffering pain & anger
As my soul burns.
Rather die on my feet than
Live on my knees!
But talk like that could find
You somewhere on a nice night
Swinging from trees,
With your head bent high
Shoe laces undone catching
The breeze.
Or being shot to death in your
Bed with your pregnant woman while
The enemy yells “freeze?”
But I’m asleep!
God you love me don’t you?
I wept when I read that!
But those are tears we’ll all
Get a chance to cry.
I just pray that’s not a
Death I ever get a chance to
Die
Jesus you love me don’t you?
There’s an evolution to revolution
One that he’s in the perception of the oppression
Malcolm showed me that clarity
Comes with severity
Big emotions! Loud voices
Big impact can come from small
Choices.
Martin took strength from
Gandhi & the Bible
Mandela and Sundiata spoke of
Something more tribal.
Seeing the best parts of me
Go with their death
Following the prints they left
In the sand allows me to speak
With their breath
Kyla, you love me don’t you?
To be well read, is to be
Well fed & without the lessons
Of my teachers I would
Be, well ????? DEAD
And sincere thanks to Briscoe
Bush Woods and the Washington-El’s
For arming me with these guiding
Lights every time I stepped foot in
Your cells.
On the Rise
By RW
On the rise,
Heat intensify,
A life that goes by,
Eyes that long to cry,
A love that lurks a pain that grows inside,
A mental that don’t forget
Erase the past for a future that don’t exist,
On the rise,
Trading the truth for lies,
A ghost that’s not seen or heard,
Not one worrd
Gone in the wind,
Give you chills,
You feel the breeze,
Somebody rescue me,
On the rise,
Water that moves rocks,
An ocean with no waves,
Gray clouds with no rain
A smile that breeds pain.
My Perfect World
By MZ
In my perfect world, there wouldn’t be a child without two parents
My perfect world would consist of free college education to those who seek it
In my perfect world no one would be homeless or go hungry
Only love, joy, respect, peace, and happiness would be allowed in my perfect world
Jealousy, hate, envy, liars, cheaters, and thieves wouldn’t be in the human traits in my world of perfection
Uplifting one another and spreading positive vibes on a daily basis would be the model in my perfect world
Killing, drug dealing, gang banging, and mass incarceration wouldn’t even be known in my perfect world
Racism, sexism, and police brutality wouldn’t exist nowhere on my planet perfection
I often dream about a perfect world like this, hoping one day that these things would become my reality (wishful thinking, huh?)
Dear Baby Girl
By AHA
Never did I mean to
Leave you in such a cold world.
Where fathers are lack of,
Due to death or just dead
Beat dads, without a care in
The world, or better yet, incarceration
Which in all is sad.
The other two I mention
Are only in some cases,
But in all three was due
To bad choices and decision
Making.
Caught up in a life of
Amusement, also without a care
In the world which now hurts me
Deeply to see how I left my baby girl,
Days have gone and years
Have flown by, and now I just
Wait my chance for Allah to reunite
Me with you to be by your side
They say it’s hard to forgive
But is it really? But I know
A person never forgets, but I
Pray throughout all the struggles
And heartache that I’m forgiven,
And that you will still love me plenty…
Revolving Door
By JS
“What’s up nephew?! What you in here for?
I see much of myself in you, this place seem to have a revolving door.
I was your age when I caught my first adult bid.
“They” say juvy joints don’t count, I guess because I was just a kid.
But the doors look the same plus the locks haven’t changed.
It is what it seem, this place have a revolving door, it’s a shame!
When one of us go out, another one come in.
It don’t matter which door it is, juvy joint or the “pen”.”
“Yeah, I hear you Unc but I ain’t listen’n tho.
Street life is what I’ve been taught so I know what it’s hittin’ fo!
All my men been in and out this joint, and I’m just getting’ started!
Money, murda, and moves you can just call me cold hearted!
I don’t care about nothing cause nobody never cared about me!
So I don’t care about a “revolving door”, just like I don’t care about the police!”
“I know those words well nephew because I’ve said them before.
Why else would I be talkin’ to you about a damn “revolving door”?!
It’s sad hearing you say those words because it only proves my point.
But let me ask you this, do you have kids or someone who needs your support?”
“Yeah I have a son Unc, but me and his mom ain’t cool”
“I only asked because I want to know if you gon teach him to be just like you?!
Don’t be stupid nephew, you have a chance to break the cycle.
When you get out get you a job, further your education, put down that rifle!
That “pack” will put you back in here too, and you know what robbin’ do.
Take care of your son, he’s what matters.
Teach him not to come through that “revolving door” for your heart will shatter.
He’ll be nephew callin’ someone else unc.
He’ll be having a conversation just like this one!”
I Want To Be Loved
By CL
I want to be loved
Not no fake love
I want to be loved
Not for what I got
But for who I am
I want to be loved,
Honored, Cherished, and
Respected in a
Respectable way
I just want people to
Love me for who I am
I don’t want that I’m
Obligated love because
We are kin
I want genuine love
For who I am
Love to me is
Loyalty over everything
A Free Mind Speaks
By AE
What is living when you’re limited?
Self-minded thoughts deemed confidence as the enemy.
Time go by and elevation seems descending
Locked all emotions in a small room with a very low ceiling.
Digging under my skin feels like a sin,
yet it’s the peace I hide within.
Losing hope is not even a possibility,
Heart keeps yelling to get oxygen in me.
See we are all more alike than you may think,
Open your eyes—stay woke—do not blink.
Missing in action indeed is relaxing but lonely,
Wishing upon a dream is similar to cloning.
Summer jam should be fun and not deadly,
Grew up a beast so vegan I can’t be, simply eat all meat.
You be me and and I’ll never judge,
It must be mature—no fake love or hugs.
Bed bugs bite the unclean every night,
Righteous chews dark negativity inside out.
So on that note I’ll close this door,
However, I promise there’s so much more.
Like rallying after being down by ten with only two minutes left,
Be your best—be blessed!
Living is a journey full of test,
So stay focused and you’ll find rest.
GOD BLESS.
Come Let Us Build A New World Together
By KW
Can you see me kneeling and praying?
Thank GOD we’ve come a long way from,
the segregated swimming pools,
From mapping out plans to continue,
Freedom Rides,
In a Nation whose people are Free.
Free to perform “choice”,
Free to attend “action”,
Free to refuse “hate”,
Free to be free from…
Racial Terrorism.
Can you see me kneeling and praying?
What horrors await us I ponder,
For living up to our American Creed.
“We hold these truths as self-evident…”
Equality complicates Democracy, how exactly?
Whether it’s:
Race equality
Job equality
Housing equality
Judicial equality
Voter equality
Gender equality
Publish a definitive study on Equality,
Complicating Democracy … if you can.
“Ignorance has produced Racist Ideas,
Racist Ideas had produced Racist Policies”
An American Dilemma revisited.
with the intent to rebuild:
“Equality produced common-sense ideas,
Common-sense ideas had produced common sense policies.”
Can you see me kneeling and praying?
Asking God can He,
Let us
Build
A
New World
Together.
If I Were Free
By HW
If I were free, I would cherish
every breath I breathe.
If I were free, I would cherish
every hug, and every kiss for everyday that I missed.
If I were free, I would show the world
my presence is love, for I am blessed from above.
If I were free, I would prove people can change.
And we shouldn’t be punished forever for things we did at a young age.
If I were free, I would cherish every moment
outside of this cage,
If I were free…