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.
To Daddy’s Little Girl
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
I Wonder Why
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
I Wonder Why
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
Visiting Hours
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
Life Lesson
By DJ
Life lesson of a world that calls at your name
The call of the streets
Nothing but a never ending road
Headed toward the wrong direction
Money was there
The power was there
But you never knew when death would call
So take it slow and move easy
‘Cuz’ Stop Being Lazy
By JP
Please man stop with the jokes
And listen to wise words being spoke
Let them excuses die in your throat
Drink some knowledge homey please don’t choke
Stop being lazy
Go and do something to amaze me
Right now you’re going through phase 3
Listening to too much Lil Wayne, 2chainz and Jay Z
The man can’t hold you back from nothing
You using any excuse ‘Cuz,’ stop fronting
Stop wasting potential and go do something
Get up get dressed and go job hunting
It’s a lot of opportunities out there man don’t miss it
Look up some workshops and take a visit
Take that iPod out your pocket and forget it
It’s jobs out there, now ride around and go get it!
Locked Up
By: MS
My head hurt waking up in jail
Tired of being in a cell, it’s hell
6 months have passed, I don’t want to be here no more
This is not complaining, this is me being for real
It’s not my motivation, but it’s no hesitation to kill
My poems, don’t know if I’m right or if I’m wrong
Being locked up the time feels so long
Listening sometimes turns to instigating
I’m really debating—a lot on my mind—too much time to be waiting
Raised by my mother eating beans and rice
Cuz my father didn’t raise his kids, he’d rather raise dice
My life is not too nice but I guess that’s life
Wondering if I’m going to be locked up for the rest of my life
When he seen what I did he was shocked cuz
He has just heard me talking about never being locked up
I Come From
by: GD
I come from a struggle
Welfare mother on drugs
And a dog eat dog world
Where they say only the strong survive
And you watch the murder of friends
Through your innocent eyes
I come from where the devil is strong
And God is weak
And the only time you pray
Is for something to eat
I come from a society of its own
But where I’m going is a different spiritual zone
Where I can sit and write at Sandy Spring Lake
And not have to worry who is creeping behind the gate
I’m going to where God is pushed first
And the devil is so shallow
And temptation is so hollow
And my new friends so positive I’m not afraid to follow
Where I’m going is someplace positive
You might want to go
The Hollow Tree
by: GD
Birds chirping, leading us through
The path of freedom
We walked the path of many struggles
Stories of cries, stories of smiles
The hollow tree is where many souls lie
Timmy Temptation
By DC
Picture this…
Lil Mikey, tired of being preserved
Thinking he should have all the pleasures he deserves
Timmy Tim Temptation,
You know he overheard!
About to trick the kid
See how much trouble he can stir
Timmy introduced himself, said ‘my friends call me Tim’
And Tim was kinda fly, so all Mikey could do was grin
Timmy said, “I got your back. It’s just me and you!
I can help you have fun, whatever you wanna do!”
And Mike ain’t have a clue—he fell for the okey doke
Mike was just tired of being the butt of other people’s jokes
So him and Timmy got tight
They was drinking and partyin’ all night
And all the lil dudes who used to ridicule started liking lil Mike
Because he was breaking all the rules
Mikey’s curfew was 8, he started coming in at 10, his grades start to slip
And now him and Tim best friends!
Timmy had a sister, a real good girl
She stayed on her brother cuz he crushes people’s worlds
She did all she could to warn lil Mike, even went as far to say:
“You gonna die tonight!”
But Mike was far gone and Timmy was his man
And Tim’s big sister was something he couldn’t understand
Now lil Mikey dead. To Tim, it’s part of the game
He tricked lil Mikey, he ain’t tell him his whole name
He said it was just Tim …But last name was Temptation
Mike shoulda took heed to his sister – Pretty P Patience
Remember This
By JA
Pay attention
‘Cause who knows a true friend
Who in any situation
Would be down until the end?
Stay focused
Be cautious
‘Cause speeding equals losing
Slow and steady wins the race
Soon you’ll be chilling with the bosses
Take your own lane,
Make it your own game
The sun will soon shine
When you’re walking through the rain
Go with your gut
Remember what mamma taught
‘Cause war with these streets
Is a fight that can’t be fought
To Make a Decision
By JP
The fire in his eyes show the ambition and hunger
While his deathly silence will make you wonder
Never had you seen a young man so calm and poised
When you are used to the youngsters disturbing the peace making noise
By his demeanor you can tell he’s on a mission
A mental one, not a violent one. Man, pay attention.
He know that he must do this right
If not then it may cost him his life
To be loyal or to be smart
Loyalty is a must though—It’s in his heart
“So what’s up man, are you going to help us jack this car or what?
You know if you don’t go you don’t get a cut!”
He thought of his struggling mother who had warned him of them
And what it will do to her if something happened to him
“Naw man, I can’t go. My mom is looking out the window”
He lied, and lift quickly picking up the tempo
A couple hours later at home listening to his radio
Breaking news coming at you live at Club Indigo
3 young men got shot to death trying to jack a car
They tried but they did not get too far
“So what are you going to do,” they asked,
Snapping him out of his vision
“No!” He said with precise conviction
Because in the end he knew that he made a wise decision!