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.
Thoughts
By MP
Late nights and early morning
Is what it’s becoming
Same thing, different day
Trying to figure out life as I know it
Scared to give a little because
People are taking more than what’s given
I’m trying to play this game like chess
But everyone else is moving like checkers
Help raising my daughter is a hard thing to do in my situation
I feel like it’s time for change
I feel like the old ways ain’t working no more
So, it’s time for new ways
In life, if something breaks you fix it
If not for me, my daughter deserves it
My generation is lost
They have no moral value, loyalty or respect
Shaken dudes that was once a friend
And killing them is now getting everyone paid
And all I want to do is change this game
Late nights and early mornings
Is what it’s becoming
Getting on my knees and praying asking Allah to take this pain
My little brother just got more time than his age
I’m on this path and I don’t know where it’s going
All I know is that I have to figure out something
Drifting through life hoping that I be smart for me and my daughter
Just my thoughts!!!
Ms. Virginia
By BH
Written on August 14, 2017
Today I lost and discovered you at the same time
Your patriotic stance and sacrifice was unique and one of a kind.
You lived and died for what you believed in
A righteous state of mind.
For equality and justice for all mankind.
A right that each and every one of us should be ready to fight for at the drop of a dime.
In loving memory of Heather Heyer,
A gift from heaven, you are truly divine.
Human Nature
By SAT
Every day I struggle and ask are we fighting for a cause or just because.
Ain’t no sense in raising your fist if you don’t even know what you’re fighting for.
But I’m scared to put my hands down to keep from getting hit in the face.
I won’t just brace up against anything, but I refuse to turn the other cheek.
There’s a very thin line between caution and paranoia,
but I’m not gonna keep looking over my shoulder
and I won’t keep peeking out the blinds.
Outside of my windows there’s someone peeking inside.
I keep telling myself to pay attention and stay focused.
I can’t afford to lose my mind; my heritage gives me pride.
Cause my ancestors died for me to live.
I’m equipped with a mustard seed that moves mountains and I’ll prove happiness is priceless.
To be confused will cost you to become self-righteous and self-centered.
My feet are cemented in the streets.
A product of the fiend my mother was and she was never there…but my father was?
And that’s a flipside of the black family portrait.
We are depicted amongst society as failures.
We’ve inherited hell on earth cause heaven ain’t within crumbs distance.
Unless, I put my brothers and sisters on my shoulders to get closer to grab the ribbon in the sky.
Dear America
By IS
I’m writing you today, a lost voice from prison
Lost and confused about this country we live in
And the people that’s in it
How do you claim to be united, when there’s so much division
So much division based on religion
Based on our culture, our sex, and our pigment
Oh America, how could you be so selfish and ignorant?
To allow a man of this nature, guide us with ignorance
On a path to destruction, I pray for deliverance
For the colored, for the poor, for the Muslim and immigrant
Oh America, Oh America, you have shown your colors
How many years in your country will my people suffer?
I shed tears for my brothers, my sisters and mothers
The words that you utter have exploited your cover
You America, have proven racism still exists
The leaders of your nation consist of white supremacists
There are those who follow them and those who are against
A war within your people, your country’s at risk
I fear for you America, but I pray that I am wrong
Sincerely, yours truly, I—– S—–.
Untitled (I Wake)
By LC
I wake
to the sun rising in the East
the rays burning my eyes
as I shake off the sleep
My first vision is bars
before a screen and a half open window
beyond that is cages
a gun tower and twenty foot wall
Then I see something else, everyday
that should give hope to all
High upon a pole. It waves at me
Sometimes to the East, sometimes to the West
Surrounded by blue skies and white clouds
Both symbols of freedom
Both symbols of life
Today I feel neither, tomorrow will be the same
I am of the world, but not in it
So I stare out the window and wonder, WHEN
When will I live my life in this manner
Of life, of liberty and the pursuit of happiness
WHEN, I ponder as I look at the star spangled banner
Midnight Pause of Nature
By JW
Express Yourself
You are true
Unbound by space and time
Down to earth, Paradise within reach
I breathe in the mountain air
This is the way of nature
The sun arises over the mountain
I express gratitude and reverence
I yearn to walk barefoot in the grass
Is it safe?
The moon turns orange on my right and shines
through my window
Is it looking at me?
The geese disappear
What happened?
The flowers are gone
Did I do something wrong?
I would love to eat from a fruit tree
It brings delight to my taste buds
I see a rainbow in my sink
Did it just wink at me as a coded message in time?
1,000 Reasons
By DC
To care, it’s 1,000 reasons.
1,000 ways to feel within the 4 seasons.
To go on. To continue. To strive.
Innumerable are the reasons to be alive.
With the passing of the time, is a reason.
With the countless dying, is a reason.
1,000 trees is a reason to breathe.
1,000 trees is a reason to read.
1,000 potential “fall in loves”
Is 1,000 potential babies to breed.
Yearly missile simulations, is a reason.
A reason to act.
For 1,000 moments lived,
Are ones you can’t get back.
To convince the quitters, the ones giving up,
I have 1,000 pulls to lift their heads up.
1,000 reasons to believe in one thing,
is 1,000 reasons not to doubt.
1,000 unanswered things for each,
is 1,000 reasons to figure out.
Ignorance is a reason to learn.
Ambition, Dreams. Goals.
All reasons to yearn.
Hatred is a reason to love.
For, with every 1,000 wounded,
Should warrant 1,000 hugged.
Dear Mom
By HW
I have to bring it up, remember what you told me?
You said, “Son go outside and play,”
And when I got scraped up you said, “everything would be OK.”
You told me life was like baseball, three strikes and I’m out.
You told me drive slow, but you never said, don’t take the fast route.
When I was young, I thought you knew everything,
Until I realized that death was a part of our reality.
Mom, it’s like the world’s against me, because I’m black.
I want kids, but I don’t want them to go through that.
Why do they hate us?
Why do they laugh?
It’s like you get your respect, when you get your cash.
Mom, what’s modern day slavery?
I thought slavery was dead.
So constitutions and amendments mean nothing, now that Lincoln is dead.
I’ll go read a book and find what they hid,
Because you told me, they been hiding things there, since I was a kid.
What I Saw
By BP
Inspired by The Cook Up by D. Watkins
I saw, I saw from behind these white walls
A child gets taken from his life as his vessel falls
Mothers cryin’ over their children
It was the worst feeling they ever saw
Wondering how could God let them down
Including the law
The smile and laughter of the good times they shared
The feeling of regret at the time when they weren’t there
That unbearable feeling deep down
That feeling they call fear
Not wanting to feel the pain
Of their child not being here
America
By AG
The story of freedom always was a work of art
A picture perfect dream that melted my heart,
We defeated the odds
We as a nation seen our first black president
In the land of the free, and I’m proud to be a resident
Everlasting victory, we made classic history
But as of Nov. 2016 we are now back in misery
Man, I ask God to turn this demonic night back to day
open our eyes and see things His way
We all are blinded by our own desires
And the hate is spreading burning like wildfires
Is this the ugly future we want our kids to face
Grow up and be mistreated, because of their race
This is a disgrace, we all should be ashamed
Democrats, and Republicans we all are the blame
This campaign was the spark to the flame
I hope this poem becomes the reader novocaine
It’s time to wake up before it’s too late to make up
Hate to see my country so divided, one track minded
selfish, secluded, and confined.
Without compassion, and empathy as our sight
We will remain channeled, static and black and white
America the great, a beautiful democracy
has flip to hate and hypocrisy
One Election set off the detection
of constant oppression, race neglection
Religion rejection, to separation
immigration, kids scared of deportation
Damn, we all need reflection, a lil’ god meditation
Because prayer is the only medication
to the hurtful situation
God bless America
Lost Child
By JM
Motivated and inspired by Native Son by Richard Wright
Lost in this jungle that they call a world
Sometimes, I walk in this jungle like no one else is there
I feel like a scared little child
Running and hiding from my deepest fear
Sometimes I cry and wake up in a cold sweat
Wishing people can see what I’ve just seen
I tried to tell people, but all they say is
Boy, you are a lost child, and that was just a bad dream!
So now I’m wondering, is it just me or everybody else?
Is my vision that blurry that no one else can see?
Because they seem so far, far away
Like the birds flying on top of the sea
Letter to Myself
By Sam
Dear Sam,
Get it right
Time is ticking away quickly
Stage IV
5 cm. x 7 cm.
Get it right
Spend as much time with her as possible
Don’t explode
Make allowances
Get it right
Get out of here ASAP
Kick the habit
Don’t come back
Get it right
Make the time count
Love her like never before
Hold on tight
Get it Right!
As always,
Sam
Samuel wrote this poem after learning that his mother has lung cancer. The measurements refer to the size of the tumor.