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.
Why Is Life Worth Living
Why is life worth living for
When most of the time I’m
stuck behind a door?
Why is life worth living for
when we don’t even get
all of our time on the floor?
All I know is life is worth more
than you can adore…
Imagine
Have you ever kissed a ghost
Been to the end of the rainbow
Saw a unicorn
Or experienced death
Have you seen the eyes of Satan
The inside of a killer whale
Or been shot out of a whale’s blow hole
Sometimes you have to imagine
Because the ground is really not that far from the
Sky
Lost Boy
***Dedicated to and Inspired by Green Day***
As I walk the “blvd of broken dreams”
I think about her
And what we use to be
A crushed heart
A “lonely boy”
But “September” is always over
With these “21 Guns”
I open my eyes
On the “high way of i-95”
The broken hearted boy was
“Headed to Canada”
Where he thought he could hide
From the love he wanted no more
“Out goes the Green Day tickets”
Books Make Me Feel
Books make me feel free
They put me in a different state of mind
To the point where I can fall asleep
And dream
That I am the character of the book
Owe You the World
When I touch down
You owe me nothing
Ima give you the world and I ain’t bluffin
I had no business leaving you all alone
But ima make it up to you when I come home
Just know me and you we are the future.
Untitled
Most boys aren’t like me
I see what the blind see
Do you know what the blind sees?
I hear what the deaf hear
But do the deaf hear?
I feel what the emotionless feel
But I have no feelings for anything
So what am I doing on the edge of the bridge
About to jump
As I tried to get back down
I…
What I Want
I want to learn how to stay out of trouble.
I want to learn how to go to school without leaving.
I want to learn how to stop reaching for a gun when an unknown car passes.
I want to learn how to love my haters.
I want to know.
Why
I look at the sky wondering would I live or would I die?
Thinking about how
I use to make my mother cry.
My mother always told me
“you’re my son I’m gone ride or die no matter what”.
And I use to wonder why,
that’s because she loves me with all her heart
and I love her the same way.
To My Daughter
I walk through the day, hidden in my disguise.
With fear in my heart and pain in my eyes.
Fear of a man?
Hell no,
Fear of a woman.
Well I would say so,
Not fear of bodily harm.
Like broken legs or broken arms.
I fear the way she looks at me today.
What she thinks of me because I am away.
I am sorry I betrayed her trust
When I speak to myself, I scream and cuss.
I can only apologize for all my mistakes.
But I promise to make it up to her!
Whatever it takes.
I have lost so much in search of gain.
When this journey’s over I will never leave home again.
All my life I dedicate to you.
Always know, without a doubt,
That I Love You.
Something For The Mind
For so long I have walked a path
that has provided me with nothing of virtue.
I thought I was getting away with something
when I took riches it offered.
As I was taking advantage of it,
it was stealing my spirit.
Now I am empty inside.
I want a new path
that will lead me to a better more fulfilling life.
I Want to Come Home
I can’t wait to come home because jail is not a place for no one
But when you do dumb s*** this is where you come
I said I want to come home it‘s not a good feeling
In here people tell you when to go in your room and when to eat
I said I want to come home when I get my visit talking to on the phone to my mother that’s not a good feeling when you in jail
I said I want to come home
because I can’t see my mother
I said I want to come home
so I can get a job and do what I got to do