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.
Giving Up
It hurts real bad, knowing what I know
Only I know, you know what I show
But deep down the war is over
The flame has been put out
All weapons have been put down
Inside, there’s no more warriors standing
When I look around!
I’m throwing in the towel
Because I believe all is lost
I won’t chance winning, that’s
A line I won’t cross
Knowing that my life as I know it
I won’t get back again
I feel so much pain
That my tears should fall like rain
But they are stuck
-I guess I’m giving up
Better Life
I want to have a Better Life
I could say that I want to have a Better Life
and try and do things Better in Life
and you just got to believe and be a Better Man
Fish Outta Water
I feel like I’m drowning on land
I‘m in a place I can’t understand.
I need to get back to my water
Where’s the sharks when you need em’
here the creatures get mad when you don’t feed em’
I’m suffocating from this air
I floated out of my sea because I lived
without a care
Mama fish told, Sista fish told me
Here Ima ugly fish, even though Ima goldie!
I have learned to walk, even though
swimming was the right thing to do
I’m slowly dying, my face is turning blue.
Dear Great Sea I’m coming back to you
Soon, very soon I hope to make it
because a fish on land – CAN’T TAKE IT
Gasping for air, and I’m not acting.
Because outta the water, me, the fish
was missing in action!
Friends Maybe
You stayed over my house and I stayed over yours
Your mother would cuss you out then I’d help you with your chores
You took my favorite pair of shoes and didn’t give them back
I was always there for you it was no question I had your back
We was mans so close we told girls we was brothers
My mother loved you like a son you had 2 mothers
When you got jumped I did too so we both had bruises
Remember we used to steal cars for those late night cruises
But since I got locked up you left your friend hangin’
I’m my own friend in the end that’s the best way I can explain it
These 4 Walls
These 4 walls talk to me and remind me of a lot
Like the mistakes I made and life lessons I forgot
These walls are also dangerous you should never face them alone
Nightmares and cold sweats plus they’ll make you miss home
I’ve heard some go crazy straight holler and cry
They even beg for forgiveness just to tell these walls bye
Me, I’m just fine but how long will I last
It’s like time’s standing still Lord please let this pass
It’s crazy cause these walls got a name they call the SHU
As soon as you mess up they’ll be waiting on you
[*SHU= Special Housing Unit]
Wheels Still Turning
Time stops for no one and it’s evident cause I keep getting older
I just caught a flat tire so I’m fixing it on the shoulder
How much will things change the wheels still turning
Will I be forgotten like a tree in the middle of a forest fire burning
It seems the more I worry about this the more about life I’m learning
But I don’t have to reflect cause these wheels still turning
Thinking About My Old Girl
My Father always told me that you
will never know a good thing until
it’s gone I never felt what he
meant until this moment
now she’s long gone and
I’m trying to get her back.
Fish Out of Water
“What did they say?”
“What does it mean?”
“What was the name of that clothing line?”
Damn, it’s like a whole new world
When couldn’t you not trust the person you called your homeboy
That ain’t right
But hey, new places, new rules
I guess I’m a fish out of water
But I’ll adapt
Reaction to Dark
**This is a reaction to the book Dark, by one of our Members**
As I read my eyes get heavy,
as I break the sound of the barrier,
as I get to the end of the book,
as I wonder what’s going to happen,
as I wish I can make it up before I get there,
as I wish I can be there,
as I wish I was him and he was me.
As the light shines it gets darker,
as I get to the last page its beginning to end,
as I flip the last page,
as I wonder even more than before,
as I stop to think but my lips keep reading,
as I get to the last word
this is what happens?
I like the book
BUT THE ENDING SUCKS
find part two of Dark!
A Gorilla, Not a Fish
I am a gorilla walking in the jungle, but I tame myself. I control my action and watch my mouth by thinking before I speak. Also educate myself to the highest level as possible.
When I get mad I feel like an untamed animal ready to go Rambo. I don’t like to fight if I don’t have to. My mother taught me how to control myself and don’t let people get the best of me.
When I feel rage building up I either call my mom or sister, listen to music, or stay alone and take a walk.
Forgive Me….
Never thought things would turn out this way
I don’t know I guess maybe time has changed ya
Hope you don’t be a stranger
You know you are still my baby
Even after death you will still be my baby
I think I’m goin’ crazy fallin’ in the darkness
If I ever see you again please don’t be heartless
I’m going through some dark phase
Everything ain’t right I’m just havin’ complicated days
Tired of being an inmate all I see is inmates
I’m tryin’ to put us together in my blurry image
Can’t believe we are so apart from each other
I feel like I’m a ground and you are a sky full of stars
Wish I would get to you, be with you, but unfortunately
I’m trapped in these walls. Suffocating.
Lately it’s been very difficult just being me
Please forgive me.