Best Incarcerated Poems
What was created to expose,
now a fortress meant to hide
Bastions of higher learning,
masking havens safe for lies
Where discourse once was treasured,
the ivy droops and sighs
With comfort their true measure,
the dilettantes all cry
Plato is disgusted,
John Locke is more than riled
As a millennium of learning
is mocked in false denial
Students weak and wounded,
from those lessons never learned
Their tomorrow’s but a doomsday,
their futures sure to burn
Those words were there to save them,
both the hated and revered
All truth in dialectics
—left abandoned by their fear
(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2016)
Categories:
incarcerated, education,
Form:
Rhyme
He cut some corners when filing his tax
Now poor man is going in for the max
He got nailed
Cant get bailed
Of appeals his lawyers now have stacks
For Carolyn's contest
Categories:
incarcerated, funny, life
Form:
Limerick
I grew up with my little sister, Betty Anne Waters
Until conviction took me away in 1980, for a murder in our town.
Which, I would never do! Betty wouldn't let me stay, and wouldn't believe.
She got her ged and many years of college. Passing the bar!
Bringing out evidence from 16 years. Losing her husband and children. Losing everything for, Kenny. Her only brother, my only sister. She won to set me free in 2001.
Betty showed the world, I was a wrongfully incarcerated brother.
The sad part is I died, six months later, enjoying whatever little life I had left.
So I leave this poem to show, my Betty, I appreciate everything, and
give you my last thoughts. With a kiss. Love Kenny!
A wrongfully incarcerated brother.
Categories:
incarcerated, brother, history, sister, me,
Form:
Free verse
What was created to expose
is now a fortress just to hide
A bastion of higher learning
within a haven safe for lies
Where discourse once was treasured
the ivy droops and sighs
With comfort their true measure,
the dilettantes still cry
Plato is disgusted,
John Locke is more than riled
As a millennia of learning
is mocked in false denial
Students weak and wounded
from those lessons never learned
Their tomorrow’s but a doomsday
their futures sure to burn
Those words were there to save them
both the hated and revered
All truth in dialectics
—now abandoned by their fear
(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2016)
Categories:
incarcerated, words,
Form:
Rhyme
Vanity and pride are my prison
Inhibitions bind and trap my desires
Relentlessly striving for perfection
Greatness eludes my every move
Outwardly concealing my inner turmoil
*Inspired by Danielle White, Acrostic Astrology Contest
Categories:
incarcerated, life, people
Form:
Acrostic
The mind is bound to thoughts,
And the heart shackle to emotions.
We're chained to multi-moods
Even linked to seductive sensations.
Categories:
incarcerated, nature, people
Form:
Couplet
The silent implosion of an unwanted notion,
that chisels the surface of a mind still in growth.
the dormant progress of life still in motion
will mold the clad fist that grabs at your throat
the illusion of silver at the crease of a spoon
will drip over flames in remote solitude.
thrash at the door that holds you enslaved
and reach for the hand, rattling keys to this cage.
breath the corruption through cracks in the door
as the keepers pace by to torment and ignore
the boards of a surface that reek of yourself
the surface of grief, with no grounds for remorse.
deng boro we teki, sa no mek gie 'u sref.
na presiri mo shie, in a einde 'fa dey.
dragged to the edge of a pending disaster
spawns the urge for survival,
and regrettable actions
drink of the blood, that yielded your life.
and find your own refuge, in an imbrued fight
line the new stones, on the path of your stride.
and forge your devotion, scratching vile delight.
The aversion will fade, as demands will be met
martinets will cower under blankets of spit
through the guising of schemes, and hidden agendas
they feed off the weak, and blend with the pious
come the evil we loathe, and unjustified splendor
to this we will toast, thus falls the creator
splendor in waves, and layers of vengeance
to break down the walls, that harbor our nascence
to stand for the fallen, who wear their boot prints
and have taken the bullet of their malevolence.
aim for the king, and the army will flee.
to leave thrones abandoned, and the world in wanting.
Categories:
incarcerated, write,
Form:
Blank verse
He chose the illegal way,
instead of honesty and prayer,
to deny his sordid existence with the blankest stare;
and while tragedy strikes home,
he can't evade those prisons' walls and run free
to comfort with his shallowness a wife drowned in sorrow,
struggling to make a living,
giving more density to an empty feeling...
An incarcerated father,, temporarily alienated
from society,while his kids' dreams are incinerated;
had he been a good dad like others have,
nothing of this sort would have happened..no goodbye, no tears!
Fathers, ponder over this and spare them many useless heartbreaks!
Never let them see you dragged in chains to a courtroom,
and feel the humiliation of the harshest words from a furious judge!
Is this what you like to hear and not change anytime soon?
What makes any man desire
others' possessions that they earned with their sweat;
what makes a dishonorable human being seize,
by a swift and injurious hand, what isn't his?
Desperation and deprivation play their role,
to bring to completion the Devil's schemes of deceit;
any remorse, not to suppress guilt, and make this sin remissible:
to erase everything from his conscience consumed by greed?
An incarcerated father, dreaming of those innocent faces,
he condemned in hell without any fault of their own; heartless father,
take another look at them and see how they shiver;
they would like to hold you, but something holds them back...
if you are capable of carrying out the evil in you and hurt strangers,
how will they ever trust you and not see that as a possible threat?
Untrustworty and unworthy one...you have failed as a dad;
and would they understand and rescue you from the inferno you've created?
Copyright 2009 by Andrew Crisci
Categories:
incarcerated, father, children, forgiveness, health,
Form:
Ottava rima
From Birmingham walls,
Revolutionary dreams:
King’s manifesto.
Categories:
incarcerated, history
Form:
Senryu
Not here to scorn you, but I must warn you my patience are none existent. I have
been convicted to a life sentence without the possibility of trust or love. I am
confined to these four walls inside my mind. No way to escape this painstaking
misery. Daily my psyche is dying from the freedom you denied me. I’m facing 20
to life all my rights to love and trust are stripped for me. And you were the jury.
You imprisoned me to this penitentiary within myself. All help is rejected. My pain
is neglected and my guards have already taken me in. The beginning of my end
starts with this pen that my hand so fervently follows. Lord knows I try not to
wallow in my self-sorrow. So my only escape is through these bitter words I
inscribe on this paper. Trying to savor the recess for an hour but my mind calls
me back to the pain I must now devour. My thoughts consume me as my eyes
cleanse the heart that once sang your name. My pain restrains all hope of ever
being able to love again and the possibility of anyone loving me. I’m facing 20 to
life there’s no way they will ever release me. Loneliness is my unfortunate
destiny and you were the jury.
I demand to be acquitted, even though I did it, I did not know there would be
consequences for being real. I still protest innocent against the allegations
you’re placing upon me, although, to you, it’s irrelevant what think. So I’m back to
facing 20 to life with no hope left to entertain my dreams of finding a love that’s
true. Standing before this ruthless jury that consists of only you, being read my
final conviction. My crime was my addiction, which was loving you.
Categories:
incarcerated, confusion, love, sad, life,
Form:
Romanticism
Even though the door was open
The bird sat in the cage
Content to stay within
The comfort that it knew
It is said that
Iron bars do not a prison make
Yet in this prison I have made
I sit and wait for you
Categories:
incarcerated, beautiful, bird, winter,
Form:
Prose
Strong brains
Driven insane
Tired of mundane
Instruction tuned
In to the ways
Of the world's sin
Many gifted from
Birth many treated
As if they have no
Worth. Satan on
Their life path because
They have so many
That their lives affect
So they are locked up
And inprisoned
Like the world rejects
Some are not in jail
Some are not in the projects
Some are not in bad homes
Many don't realize they
Are gifted because Satan
Has never left or won't
Ever leave them alone.
So those strong brains
Mostly remain incarcerated
Maybe this is the reason
For a failing economy
Because intelligence is
In some type of jail
And the ignorance
Raise Hell.
Categories:
incarcerated, introspection, life
Form:
Rhyme
Limbo
I’m in a dark space
There are no edges
And the sides flex if I push
I am blind and deaf
The taste of doubt
In my mouth
The scent of fear
In my nostrils
I roll and kick
But I make no impact
I want to be free
But there’s no way out
I’m agonising
Worrying, uncertainty
Claustrophobia haunts me
Rules my mind.
Everybody hates me
I’m against the world
And the world’s against me
You enter the room
And I snap out of it
My senses return
I’m free once more
My mind has lost its grip.
David Cox 17/04/24
Categories:
incarcerated, 11th grade, 12th grade,
Form:
Free verse
EXTRA EXTRA
Contextual Comrades Incarcerated,
Victims of vitriols vexation
denied the rights of their inquisitors.
Censored by the voices of shame
guilt and hubris masquerading
as righteous indignation.
Virtue’s vanity
shouting from the “bully” pulpit
concerned only with its own reflection
“gutturally” genuflecting
before a muted “god”.
©6/3/2021
Categories:
incarcerated, bullying, poetry, spoken word,
Form:
Free verse
Incarcerated Thoughts
Written: by Miracle Man
1-17-2020
Thoughts wear my brand while Incarcerated,
until spoken by tongue or printed in ink.
While I may think they’re five star rated,
others have the option of thinking they stink.
Many times, thoughts seem to come with ease,
others arrive quickly and in like manner scatter.
Perhaps some are intended to other thoughts tease,
those finding my paper are all that will matter.
Categories:
incarcerated, how i feel, image,
Form:
Lyric