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.
If They Take My Life
By HF
If they take my life
It doesn’t mean that I die
For one to experience death
They must first be alive
Somewhere along our journey
In the midst of the days and nights
Someone has convinced us
That there is no difference between living and life
If I should cry a night
Does that make me weak?
And learn a depth of words
Does that make me deep?
If they take my life
Does it mean that I die?
Immortalized by my words
Through the spirit of their readers eye
If love lends wings
And I Believe I Can Fly
But you convinced me of impossibilities
Yet still I try
Where you see a butterfly
I see a cocoon
A caterpillar in the sky
A metamorphosis full bloom….
I Know Pain
By DH
I know pain like the back of my hand
I’ve felt it on my skin like wind from a fan
I’ve cradled it like a baby and rocked it to sleep
Spilled it all over my clothes and all over my sheets (more…)
Kings
By VM
Every time I think of you
I miss you even more
My smile gets brighter and brighter
You are very special to me
It’s unbelievable
I love you with all my heart
(more…)
Welcome To Da Darkside
By VM
If I had a second chance to be reborn
And came out of my mother womb
With the sense and knowledge I have now
How could I end up like this???
Just remember you living
In a world full of envy and non-sense
That still exist from a hundred years ago
(more…)
Free Mindz Rap
By RJ
Now I know what it’s like to have a Free Mind/
I was lost, blindfolded, to see crime/
One day I’m on the street, to see shine/
Next day I’m in the pen, to see time/
The judge told me, he gave me a second chance/
This is the longest I have ever been in the slam/
Free Mindz is family, family for what I stand/
(more…)
Please Forgive Me
By DJ
Please forgive me, I promise I will change
Please forgive me, I want to start over again
Please forgive me, I swear Ima make u proud
Please forgive me, I’m sorry and I’ll say it loud
Please forgive me, I know I have done wrong
Please forgive me, I just wanna move on
(more…)
Lost Then Found
By DJ
Lost
I lose myself so often many days my mind go blank
I feel like a person I’m not a lot
My soul is lost and my thoughts are tied in a knot
I’ve been lost since the day I was born and took my first breath
I’ve lost my mind, I’ve wasted time
(more…)
Words of Wisdom
By JG
If I knew then what I know now, the things of the material world wouldn’t have had so much allure over me. I would’ve understood and appreciated the value of education, because I would’ve known that true education is the means by which individuals cultivate themselves mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. (more…)
My Passion
By IS
The passion I have for writing is a feeling of peace and tranquility
The desire to inspire myself ambitiously
A sense of freedom without actually being free
Unlocking my chains with this poetic key
Exceeding beyond this feeling of imprisonment
My mind directs these orchestrated sentences. (more…)