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.
Complete Me
By GB
I’m not whole without her
She’s my entire mind, body, and soul
Without her I’m empty & lost
An’ I don’t know which way to go
She’s my navigator
An’ the only one that operated my heart
It only beats for her
An’ without her it feels as if it’s been ripped apart
The passion I have for her burns within me,
An’ the flame cannot be extinguished
‘Cause the love we share is far from over
An’ nowhere near being finished
She’s the ying to my yang
The Michelle to my Barack
Our love is timeless
Like a forever spinning clock
For her to mean so much to me
I really took her for granted
As if she meant least
Now without her
My heart is like an unfinished puzzle
Missing a piece
I guess it’s true
You don’t know what you have until it’s gone
Now you want it back, but it just can’t be
So I promise to make it up to her
She deserves it; I love her so much
She’s my other half
She completes me
Prisoner of Society
By GD
Sentenced to life with a mandatory 20 years in poverty
Forced to grow and learn the menace way
Pitching stone after stone on the block
Waist heavy, protecting self with a glock
Not knowing I’m someone’s most prized stock
Placed in the ghetto, better known as the PJs
Where we are someone’s biggest project…
Subject to get a death sentence if caught slipping
All because I’m just living
A prisoner of society
Where laws are set by those who stand higher than me
Who are quick to say “by the power invested in me”
When all I desire is to be free
Free from being a prisoner of this society
If I Die
By CR
If I die
I want to leave a mark
That everybody could remember
Like be the first to come out of jail
And become a helpful person to the community
To be an EX-gang member
That becomes a CEO of a construction business
Or an architect that once was a felon in prison
The mark I leave
Going to maybe change the way
Hispanic youth think and act
If I die
I want to leave a mark
Lonely Patients
By MS
Thinking hard, my thoughts keep on drifting to many things
Mostly that which I’m missing
Family, freedom, the touch of a lovely woman
A lot of thoughts bottled up but no one to listen
Trying hard to be patient throughout my trials & tribulations
But that can really be a test in my situation
Being all alone in a place so far from home
Waiting for something so close, but the wait seems so long
Just need someone to talk to and listen to my thoughts
But since I’ve been away, most people ran off
See, these are the times when reality is hard to face
But I know things will get better if I be patient and wait
I Am
Collaborative Poem By MS and MK
I am a human being
I was judged but never got to be heard
I hope for better days
I fear losing this every day fight I’m in in with the hard knock life
I love to hear the bird chirp smell of grass and the sight of the free world
I dream of making a change that could benefit me and everyone who’s to come after
I wish to move on with my life
I laugh to keep from crying
I cry to keep from dying inside
Pain Builds
By AR
So why break?
I used to hate it
Be terrified of it
Then I tolerated it
And gave into it
Laughed at it
Ignored it
For years despised it
But now I’m used to it
So I build
Stretching over that tall wall of strength
To manhood from “thug life”
Being in good ways to gain my wisdom
For another Mission Possible
To become a gentleman
And believe me—we can make it
Because pain builds
Stand Up
By RD
Stand up because if not God no one should you be bowing to!
We all have one mind so no one should be thinking for you
I said stand up! Don’t let no one break your spirits
Stand up, because don’t think no one else is going to stand up for you!
Speak your mind; don’t be a copy cat like a parrot
Stand up! don’t fold; don’t bend; this is not origami
Stand up! don’t give up; if you want to cry go, to your mommie
Stand up! you are your own person; you are your own army
To Her
By CR
Never knew I would be thinking about you a lot
Thought it was just going to be a thing with us
Not fall in love
Now that I’m here doing time
Te extraño
Hopefully, one day you are able to talk to me again
Cuz I know I did wrong
People say, “Don’t save her”
But I’ll be real glad to save you
And maybe start a family
A Face That Never Betrayed Me
By MK
I reveal no feeling
All through the day
All through the night
Life must end
Like a Tyson fight
On my face it’s bright as day
But in my eyes it’s dark as night
Why reveal all my feeling
When nobody care how you living
I feel so much
But show so little
High On Reading!
By CS
When I read it’s like I’m smoking weed
The more I read
The more I need
I get so high on reading books
I be so high I feel so cooked
Different books is like different weeds
Every time I pick up a book I have got lots to read
When I read all my problems float away
I read so much it feels like I’m high all day
I read to get high
I read to get fly
The more I read the more I get by
I get so high on reading
So more books is what I am needing!
(Instead of smoking weed, you should read)
Big Dogs & Cool Cats
By SL
He’s back! He’s back! Who’s that?
You know who, the big dog that hangs with those cool cats
Oh yeah, I know him—where’s he been?
Freeing his mind through his pad and pen
I just saw him and he spoke words of gloom
He told me to never let my glory walk hand in hand with doom
People forget faster than they remember, so remember never to forget
Knowledge is like a great wall, we have to pay attention to every brick
Success is measured by failure, by those who learn from their mistakes
If you keep these things in mind, everything you are will be great!
Feel My Pain
By AJ
Feel my pain stuck in the game
Trying to play it different ways, but the results always the same
Being stereotyped by what’s on paper before I get to speak
Employers scared to look in my eyes because they might get weak
And see that I am striving and searching for a better life
So they hold their heads down and read my background
And always think twice
What am I to do with three mouths to feed?
My daughter, my son, and even my own
Turn back to what I was raised around
And then I’m considered to be wrong
Am I wrong for trying to survive?
Or am I wrong for the many lives I jeopardized?
No one sees the struggle
They only see the trouble
Now I’m labeled a menace to society and all my charges are doubled
I have so much pain inside, but the government don’t seem to care
They just pile on jail time until it’s too hard for me to bear
Everyone in the world is different, but our struggles are all the same
So I know there are many different versions to “FEEL MY PAIN”