Poems

By CM

See ONE mistake changed my life
In numerous ways,
And I’m talking for TWO decades
Not the “Soon to be days.”
Who would’ve thought that THREE seconds
Could mean so many years?
Never imagined my TWO eyes crying
So many tears
With ONE life to live
And a MILLION dreams subdued
The front prison gates
Is where my childhood concludes
Pleaded to TWENTY-FOUR years
And that’s just something I gotta do.
But, I’ll be ready to explore the world
On the year I turn FORTY-TWO.

By AJ

I am from a place where nobody wants to go because of poverty.
I am from a fatherless upbringing, which is common in my eyes.
I am from where grandparents raise their grandkids.
I am from where people’s morals are backwards.
I am from where people worry about the new Jordans and not the light bill.
I am from where prison is almost mandatory (sounds farfetched, but it’s true)
I am from where everybody wears kufis, but don’t practice their religion.
I am from where death is common.
I am from where you have to look over your back 24/7 to be on point.
I am from where public schools pass you without attending class.
I am from where teachers are drug addicts.
I am from where being African American with dreadlocks is almost everyone
in the hood, and mistaken identity is highly possible.
I am from where a change would make a difference but it’s still the same.
I am from where kids don’t think of their future.
I am from where people need help but don’t get it.
I am from where you can’t be weak or you’ll stick out.
I am from where the smell of gun smoke is usual.
I am from where eating in the dark is common.
I am from where playing in alley tag is fun.
I am from where basketball courts are made out of milk crates.
I am from where you couldn’t wait for the first day of school so you could
put your new clothes on to show off. But when you come home you have
to take them off.
I am from where you got holes in your shoes and clothes.
I am from where you grow up too fast; you live beyond your age.
I am from where every neighborhood has a candy lady and a bootlegger that
sells malt liquor and loose cigarettes and blunts.
I am from where Go-Go music is blasting in everybody’s house radio.
I am from where babies are out at midnight.

I am from Southeast Washington, DC.
I wanna be where the world doesn’t judge me on where I’m from but on where I’m going.

By: AJ

Hello, World. Me, well I’m hanging in there, taking it day by day. I’m writing you to really vent to you and to get a few things off my chest. I was just thinking about my life, my past, my future, and my prospects on different worldly views. And I want to share a few things with you about it. And I want your opinion on a few things. Hear me out. First off, my name is A. Johnson. I’m 23. I’ll be 24 in a few days. I was raised in the struggle of Southeast Washington, DC. I’ve made some mistakes in my life that I really regret, but what’s done is done, and I can’t take them back. And it seems that that’s the only thing people see when they hear of me or my name is mentioned.

I just want people to know that I’m better than the worst thing I’ve done, and to not judge a person by his mistakes, judge him by his current actions that you’ve witnessed with your eyes and ears. I WAS a product of my environment. Which isn’t an excuse for my actions, but it plays a major part of it. And let me tell you that I take FULL responsibility for my actions. What people who didn’t grow up like I did don’t realize is that I didn’t have any guidance. No male figure in my life to encourage me to do the right thing. So my role models were the hustlers, the thieves, and so on. So I thought that was the right thing to do. So now that I’ve grown to be able to think on my own, I know it’s the wrong thing. And for the kids who is going through the same thing that I went through, I’m here to let you know as a living example that everything that is glitter isn’t gold, and you don’t have to sell drugs or rob people to make a living (real talk).

Because why take the chance of not just going to prison but being shot over money when you can get a job and not have to look over your back constantly for people on a come up. And I know anybody could get robbed, but you’ll have a higher probability. Why risk getting a record when you could do ANYTHING without one? Whereas people who have a record are very limited. So think about your future and don’t let your head be your downfall. Because you don’t understand how I wish I would turn back the hands of time. Try to get into all the afterschool programs as possible so you can be out of temptation’s way. And plan for college–you can NEVER have enough education, so stay in school.

And for the employers who interview people, know that there are people who can change and want to better themselves with what’s right. So give a person a chance, please. If on the application someone told you that he or she was a felon, at least he or she was being honest, which is a stepping stone for change. How about giving someone with a record a probation period on the job or something instead?

And for the uppity people, don’t think every person with dreads walking close to you in a Walmart parking lot is going to mug you. Do you ever think maybe they just wanna shop too? We as human beings have to change our views on a lot of things. Let’s stop the hating and the discrimination. Stop being racist because as a Muslim, I believe that we as humans are one race altogether and not by different colors. Let’s try to be equal and join together. Let’s form some unity among ourselves. With that said, I hope and wish y’all the best of life. Enjoy, Peace and Love.

Sincerely,
A. J.

P.S. Don’t judge a book by its cover
Do it by the words on the inside

By LB

Letting go isn’t easy
When it’s time I will be free
I will be free to be who I want to be
Take a deep breath and let the stress fly away
Leave your past astray
Sometimes we all need a break
Trying so hard to stay awake
Letting go is a process
Letting go of the past
Thinking about all you have to the last

By: YA

I want to belong to something
To something positive
To something that makes me grow
Makes me grow as a person
As a son
As a better human being
I want to belong to the community that rejected me
To the streets that I can’t walk through now
But I know I’m going to hit one day
But I know I belong to my family
To something special in their hearts
To something that never is going to go away
To something that’s never gonna change
That’s what I belong to
I belong to love

By DI

If I was able 2 be me
I would
I would smile, I would chill
But I can’t
I can’t become great
I can only become a statistic
I guess it’s the American Way
2 kill, 2 deal
2 spend my life in jail
2 die for nothing
Or stand 4 something
Livin’ in darkness
Is what they want
Stop my brightness
Is what they can’t
Unity is what we need
But realness makes ‘em faint
Ask me why I feel this way
And I would say
I was born this way
They made me this way
Who did?
Does it matter?
Do my thoughts count?
In your eyes, am I just a body count?

By JP

Kids starving, momma nodding and pops foreign
These are the broken homes that most of us were born in
No food, no heat and no water
This here is poverty where life expectancy is much shorter
No shoes, holey clothes and runny noses
In a place where praying is unheard of and who is Moses?
Prostitutes, drug dealers and cold killers
Doing errands for them so I can eat is all I remember
Birthdays was the worst day
We had to steal out of stores when we was thirsty
They say that it ain’t no love for the wicked
But don’t judge us, life chose us—we didn’t pick it
Surrounded by steel gates non of them pickets
It’s like we were raised for jail; I don’t get it
Kids getting used, molested and abused
Wearing long sleeves to school to hide the bruise
M.O.B a lot of dudes say they live by the rules
And the young girls think it’s cute but they are so confused
But I love where I’m from, don’t get it misconstrued
Even back when my lil bro was crying from hunger
And I ain’t know what to do
A couple of years later and it still draws emotions from you
And it’s still taking our young men to jail by the bundles
I’m a proud survivor of our world that we call the jungle
And even when I get old and rich I’ll always remember “da struggle”

By MS

Time stands still…pause
I’m stuck in a place
Where the food isn’t right
I can’t sleep at night
Physically my body don’t belong
But I’m young and smart
And choose to free my mind
Capture the real picture
It’s crazy, I’m at a state
Where the people who I once loved
Are all acting fake
Some say it’s fate
But at the end of the day
When you’re somewhere you don’t belong
All you can do is wait
Be patient, don’t stress
Have faith, continue the struggle
And let your mind be your muscle

By: RD

You mean so much to me
And not just me, but to the world
What you mean to me
Is so sweet and unimaginable
That if you were to combine
All the seas into one as ink
And all the trees as pens
It wouldn’t dare compete

By RW

I wonder why people search
For love when it’s pain
I wonder why people want to be seen
When they are blind
I wonder why people want to walk in the light
But live in the darkness
I wonder why do people die so young?
I wonder why people fight
When they are not being attacked
I wonder why the government commands
People not to commit murder
But they sentence people to death
I wonder why the same thing that will make you laugh
Will also make you cry

By: MP

I wonder why at times I feel so bad
I wonder why at times things so small make me mad
I wonder why the judge gives people Life
I wonder why I always feel so right
I wonder why people hate for nothing
I wonder why they always put me with something
I wonder why life could be so hard
I wonder why it’s so hard for me to get a job
I wonder why a person can just lie
I wonder why when people die I don’t cry
I wonder why all I do is wonder
I wonder why it seems the streets just takin’ me under
I wonder why

By: SW

Anxious for the moment
While sadness eats inside
Looks are deceiving reality
Heart deeply cried
Smiles like a sunshine
Knowing it’s pouring down rain
Behind our face expression
We feel each other
She stays strong by day
And break down by night
I feel pain all day
But stand tall like height
So much runs through the minds
But only little is said
She knows I’m alive
But feel the situation dead
Emotions run through our body
Tears she begin to shed
My eyes began to water
Depressed, I drop my head
Face-to-face with fear
Seeing the person who carried me 9 months cry
Having me so tongue tied my mouth open
But I can’t reply
1 minute left
Clock reaching end of the line
We just witness
For the moment next time