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.
Over The Years
Over the years
I’ve learned about the people
Who fought.
The people who weren’t people,
But property to be sold and bought.
Over the years
I learned about the people
who cried.
Over the years
I’ve thought about the things
I Seen
You’ll have to live in my shoes
to see what I mean
Over the years
I’ve thought about the things
I’ve done
laughing and joking like everything
Was fun
I often think about the time I wasted
Instead of getting high
I could’ve gotten an education
Out of all the battles I fought
I was fighting for nothing
but as the old saying goes
you’ll fall for anything if
You don’t stand for something.
Season’s Sorrow
Many faces and personalities once here spread
Now departed, missed along my life’s way
Dear Summer, I thank Allah for you
For with you comes shortened nights and longer days.
Though memories fade I still dream of you
And it’s as though you’re actually there
But you’re not so I’m forever indulged in the pursuit of happiness
With hopes that one day I’ll thaw and love again
Because currently I’m numb, cold and bitter
Still I long for you Winter
But with your passion comes punishment
I lust for your Beauty
The sight of you causes my face to flush my heartbeat to slow
So I wait with feet beneath imaginary snow
For your eluding self to show
I’ve envisioned your return time and time again
Maybe in the heart of spring when many flowers and splendid plants reemerge
So would we
I’ve always despised Autumn due to everything that dies with it
My uncertainty gives strength
Entertaining the thought that my beloved may come
Before my heart becomes dull and my mind recognizes it own treason
And tears fall from thy’s face like leaves in this sorrowful season
The time of year may dictate thy behavior though truth may hurt and lies may heal
Thy must realize that truth is one’s SAVIOUR
Untitled (When I Write)
I write when I’m bored
I fight with no sword
My poems are amazing
Without me blazing
My face clear
My thoughts are great
I believe in myself
I have faith
So I’ma stay I’ma be home 1 day
All I have to do is pray
I read books to escape where I’m at
I need help on how to chat
I Am There
When you need me
I am there
Even if you deny me
I am there
Even when you feel most alone
I am there
Even in your pain
I am there
When you pray 2 God
And ask him 2 bring me back home 2 you
I am in you
And you are in me
I am there
Because I have 2 be
And because I wanna be there with you
Only in your mind
Can you feel separate from me
Cambio es Posible
I always used to say I walked alone
while I was above the influence
I always used to say “No me vale nada”
when I used to do anything
Now I always say I’m walking with a guardian angel
In the presence of god
Now I say I’m sorry for the dumb mistakes
I did while I was out there
And now once I touch down
I can accomplish my lifelong goal
And become a businessman
Positive Retaliation
When you’re young and feel unsupported or unloved
you’ve never been taught about the one that’s above
When you bottle up your pain and misery and your emotions
Constantly beat you up mentally
There’s no one you can talk to, nobody to help or even guide you
When you walk down the streets that feel like hell
and all the stereotypes place you dead or in jail
You wonder how should I get back at these people?
Should I lie, cheat, and steal and show the world that you’re evil?
It’s time that I took a different approach
To be able to really brag and boast
To show that stereotypes can be proven wrong
cause I’ve been an object of perception for way too long
A lot of times I’ve been told that I ain’t going to be nothing
But positive retaliation is for me to be something
Lost
Lost in my thoughts, I can’t find the light that can help me.
I once knew the path to come back reality, but now I don’t know how to return to my happiness.
Lost in my deep thoughts, there are two worlds in which there are no worries, it’s just me, I live for my passion,
and with my version of life.
Lost here in the world of dreams where everything is possible, where you can arrive wherever you wish.
I am lost but I want no one to wake me, this is a world I don’t want to escape.
Here I am free as air, free like my thoughts.
Lost is my thoughts, I don’t know how to return
Lost in a world I don’t want to go back to,
Lost in my dreams I don’t want to wake up
Leave me to dream, I don’t want to return, let me enjoy this.
When Pencil Meets Paper
When pencil meets paper
I condemn the facility
Then come back with the remedy
Praying for all enemies
Cuz I’m too profound
Podium speaking I grasp the crowd
Wit compound word and plenty verbs
Gettin’ pension for my proverbs
Cuz when they hit ya it packs a punch like Moss Berg
Flyin’ round the city I’m a lost bird
In a lost world no longer neat
Just pencil paper everything else is obsolete
The pinnacle is here so where should I try and reach
When there’s no ripe fruits for me to reap
I’m beyond money, cars, clothes, and sneaks
So I write and out the pencil the graphite leaks
So peep my pedigree when my heart beats them beats
And after pencil meets paper let my mind bleed on beats
Love Lost
If there’s no love there, how can love be lost?
They say you can’t buy love but you will pay a cost
Maybe long endeavors
Through the slow pain, heartache
And all the stormy weathers
Would you think twice about the love you once thought was right
Which right turns to left
And your highs become lows
Friends become foes
When love becomes bold
Cuz friends start to hate on what you got
Tellin’ you what it is when it’s not
Now you got that flower
She loves me, she loves me not
So you rush back to the agony when the love is off
So if you don’t have love
Its cuz you left it alone
Cuz love is never lost
It’s just waiting for you to come home
Respect
I really want 2 be honest
With the females I choose 4 company
But some use me 4 play 4 just showing sympathy
If I show them a real man
Will they respect and love me with loyalty?
Am I being a fool?
Or am I confused
from being brain washed
by other dudes?
How about you choose
Proposal
You and I are standing in a stony creek,
under the spray of a waterfall.
I reach into the clear water and
pull a ring from the bottom.
The ring is made of the rarest stones
that shine like tiny suns.
I place the ring on your finger and
ask you to be my wife sharing the same life…