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.
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”
My Road to Happiness
By DM
My road to happiness don’t look like Southeast Good Hope*
Where you see friends noddin’ off good dope
My road look like a spot where it couldn’t snow
I’m talkin’ Caribbean, Bahamas
No killings, no drama
No stress, no sorrow
All answers, no problems
Don’t think you not gonna encounter a roadblock
Yeah, them low-life friends hangin’ on your old block
They wanna hang with you, drink with you
Smoke wit’cha, joke wit’cha
Why? Because they don’t have no hope in ya
So you stay away from them
Stay astray from them
They gon’be the reason you gon’ get a flat tire
You spoke the truth, now you seen as a fat liar
So if you wanna keep riding on the road to happiness
Keep straight
But don’t take the shortcut
Because you could be headin’ towards death.
*Good Hope Road is in a Southeast section of DC-a poor and violent neighborhood of the city
Tick-Tock
By SL
How long has it been
Since I’ve picked up my pen?
How long has it been
Since my words made the world spin?
Maybe a year, maybe two
Should I blame myself or should I blame you?
If they listen, what do you think they’ll hear?
Years of pain being drained from my soul, exiting through tears
It’s not the job of the misunderstood to make people understand
He’s the one misunderstood when he walks the land!
The greats were never pulled out the crowd and put on a throne
They always were unique and stood alone
Often misread and unappreciated
Until they stand tall and their true presence can’t be negated
They go from being a shadow to being the light of their people
Even so, they’ll never fly with the flock because they were born eagles
Growing Up
By DG
Troubled thoughts, troubled actions
Back and forth, over and over
Makin’ decisions, changing decisions
One foot in, one foot out
Try’na change but hard to get out
Changing surroundings, changing peers
How easy it is when you’re lookin’ in
Inside the box, outside the box
Is this what I’m all about?
Searching and asking
Lookin’ and finding
Time to change
Time to grow
Resilience
By SH
Being away from my girlfriend makes me feel lonely
Like no one’s around me
And I start to get uncomfortable
So anywhere I go I imagine
She is beside me at all times
I miss her so much
I would do anything to see her again