Best Prisons Poems
Confined within the steep banks of a narrow mind
is a cryptic river where men stumble in and go blind
They construct reinforced dams that hold them back
from accepting the candid truth; white is not black
Like the slow moving current of a trickling stream
their thoughts are clogged and clot like curdled cream
What chance do the recalcitrant ones have to accept
reality if they allow no vision of being circumspect
of taking fault and blame for having a closed mind?
These are the ignorant, the foolish ones aptly defined
as those destined to stagnate until they decompose
It's the subsequent end to the stubborn who oppose
a new premise or concept with which they don't agree
They rot inside prisons of conceit; a human tragedy
Categories:
prisons, character,
Form:
Rhyme
They kill a body and to prison go
Behind the bars with time they have to pay
A life that’s deadened with a life exchanged
So law and justice see the light of day
But tell me what of those who kill the heart
Who murder love and glibly walk on by
Incarceration is not their reward
The weight of guilt to bear, they do deny
A greater crime than this is yet to be
To kill a heart and form the living dead
Someone who walks and talks but is not real
Who shoots away the day and weeps in bed
Imprisoned they should be who now walk free
A murdered heart, a greater crime must be!
Jade Celeste
Categories:
prisons, murder,
Form:
Sonnet
Impenetrable fortresses built from stones made of regret
reenforced with the concrete of mistakes we can never forget.
Confined within these walls only your guilt here shall dwell.
The cruelest prisons are the ones that we build for ourselves.
Categories:
prisons, depression,
Form:
Rhyme
I think about human freedom
I search for human liberty
I get none in human life
Humans have never carried
Freedom and liberty in bags
In mother’s womb
Surely I see no freedom, no liberty!
In the womb- world humans;
have eyes but not allowed to see
have ears but not allowed to hear
have mouth but not allowed to eat
have tongue but not allowed to taste
have limbs but not allowed to travel
have feelings but not allowed to express
have age-mates in other wombs but not allowed to visit
Umbilical cord is the only highway of interaction!
Humans tell me, is that freedom or imprisonment?
Get born and find another prison
A prison of locked- ups and denials;
love to travel but have passport and visas
love as you like, you commit fornication
love someone’s partner, you commit adultery
possess all you want, you are a thief
do as you want, break laws
no freedom to swim like fish
no freedom to fly like a bird
no freedom to sail like clouds
no freedom to relax like air
no freedom to live for ever
Humans tell me is that freedom or imprisonment?
Die and you face another imprisonment
No passport, no visas are allowed
Live in heaven only or hell only
No visit to a brother across in hell
No visit to a father across in heaven
No sending back message to earth
In hell burn and cry in eternity
In heaven sing and praise the Lord in eternity
No night, no day in heaven or hell
No tomorrow, no today, no yesterday
No ambitions, no desires, no sleeping
No hope, no second chance
Humans tell me, is that freedom or imprisonment?
What about Guantanamo Bay Prison?
What do you say about Maximum Prison?
Confinement in maximum prison is
A shadow of greater denials in womb-prison
And eternal imprisonment in heaven, in hell
Human prison is temporal but with hope
It is a shadow of the real prison in the womb
It is a picture of the real prison in the hereafter
Then which freedom, liberty do you urge for?
Like a dreamer you are chasing after white ghosts
Fighting for freedom and liberty is a jest
Freedom and liberty you enjoy is a chimera
They are feathers of what does not exist
Humans are conceived in prison, live in prison
And die to live in prison
Human existence is life imprisonment
Categories:
prisons, humanity, philosophy,
Form:
Narrative
Take care not to slip
Into that dark tunnel
Where vision narrows
And focus is lost for
Fate often waits to funnel
Us into places where lives
Are often randomly tossed
Guard well your free will
Beware of false visions
Be master of your domain
Tho’ few really do…
And know that we all
Have our own prisons
And all of our debts
…will come due…
Categories:
prisons, life,
Form:
Dramatic Monologue
You can be proud of your city, home town or your village.
You can be proud of your home county and local heritage.
You can be proud of the school where you were taught.
You can be proud of the local pub, club or restaurant.
You can be proud of your family without taunt.
You can be proud of the journey your ancestors travelled,
and be proud of from where they travelled to get to this place.
You can be proud of these things and wear a smile on your face,
because with these prides there is no prejudice attached,
there is no stigma that sticks, this pride does not disgrace,
but you will find hesitation toward pride in your nation,
because isms and judgement exist in that statement.
Preconceived notions present this pride as different.
Some link national pride and racism without thought,
and with ignorance look down on you as a result.
They select history you were not there for,
and talk as though it was your fault.
Be careful with this pride as to them it is an outward insult,
as to them it says that you think you are better than the rest,
even though your thoughts contain no comparison of who's best
it is simply an inward thought in which no other or thing is caught,
It's not about others it's not a put down,
it's not a comparison, don't turn it around,
it's about you and where you belong,
why is this pride seen as wrong?
Some people have issues and see this an opportunity to dis you,
they group you a race or a type and dismiss you,
but you're only thinking about what makes you and who you are,
ignore these people calling you racist, because racist they are.
They think it acceptable to attack your nation through you,
some historic event in which they and you had nothing to do,
their opinion pure prejudice a warped point of view,
their passive attack not acceptable when they attack just you.
If you are proud to be a man is that an insult toward women,
if you are proud to be a woman is that an insult toward men,
this thought only contains pride in whom you are,
this thought does not include ideas toward whom they are.
So I choose to be proud of all that makes me, me.
My postcode, my accent, my roots and home country,
and if some thoughtlessly link this pride with an ism,
then I care not, as their thought process lives in a prison.
Categories:
prisons, people, perspective, prejudice, wisdom,
Form:
Free verse
Prisons,
like slavery,
and economic and political prostitution,
are rooted in unfortunate histories
of criminal choices.
Criminal behaviors
are rooted in revenge
and fear
and anger
and insanely aggressive feelings
of entitlement,
bad faiths in superior wants and isolating needs.
Retaliation
is rooted in blame.
Blame
is rooted in guilt.
Guilt
is rooted in shame.
Shame
is rooted in insufficiency,
poverty,
feelings of marginal value,
remedial weaknesses.
Lack of value
for healthy life,
for all lives,
is rooted in circles of perpetual retribution
for lack of cooperative integrity.
Lack of spiraling integrity
is rooted in tolerance for habitual failures
to love sufficiently,
publicly and privately,
socially and personally,
naturally and spiritually.
Failures of love
are rooted in abundance of memorized terror.
Terror
is rooted in histories of trauma.
Trauma
is rooted in lack of restorative therapy.
Lack of effective, necessary, sufficient, optimizing therapies
is rooted in prisons
viewed as fitting resolutions for others' crimes
rather than criminalizing problems,
personal and public sufferings,
loss,
failures of sufficient social integrity.
Categories:
prisons, gender, health, integrity, mental
Form:
Political Verse
In Prisons Brimming With Their Tears And Lost Gold
Where does man heal his tired soul when old,
in black castles brimming with sad tears and gold?
Along rivers that ooze of his stinging dark pains,
imprisoned in shades of his misery and stains.
Lord knows we made our foul and blackened beds
filled them with savage cuts in our hard heads!
While we danced with world's greatest deceivers
in our shallow joys, begged we to be receivers!
Now our wicked souls cry for that sweet kindness
rare gems we cheerfully tossed away in our blindness
O' how we now beg to be given greater goals
such that will never again tarnish our weeping souls.
Where do bad men redeem broken spirits when old
in prisons brimming with their tears and lost gold?
Robert. J. Lindley, 4-23-2016
Note- Finished today, original started in May 1986...( a fragment)
Titled -- Dreams and Memories Lost, A Sad Look Back.
PARTS 1,2, and 3
This is part one. Parts two and three are both fragments-to be finished before I die--
if my muse leads me to the water to thus drink again..
Categories:
prisons, art, conflict, deep, introspection,
Form:
Sonnet
In Prisons Brimming With Their Tears And Lost Gold
Where does man heal his tired soul when old,
in black castles brimming with sad tears and gold?
Along rivers that ooze of his stinging dark pains,
imprisoned in shades of his misery and stains.
Lord knows we made our foul and blackened beds
filled them with savage cuts in our hard heads!
While we danced with world's greatest deceivers
in our shallow joys, begged we to be receivers!
Now our wicked souls cry for that sweet kindness
rare gems we cheerfully tossed away in our blindness
O' how we now beg to be given greater goals
such that will never again tarnish our weeping souls.
Where do bad men redeem broken spirits when old
in prisons brimming with their tears and lost gold?
Robert. J. Lindley, 4-23-2016
Note- Finished today, original started in May 1986...( a fragment)
Titled -- Dreams and Memories Lost, A Sad Look Back.
PARTS 1,2, and 3
This is part one. Parts two and three are both fragments-to be finished before I die--
if my muse leads me to the water to thus drink again..
Categories:
prisons, art, conflict, dark, judgement,
Form:
Sonnet
Impenetrable fortresses built from stones of regret,
reinforced with concrete mistakes we can never forget.
Confined within these walls only your guilt shall dwell.
The cruelest prisons are the ones that we build for ourselves.
Categories:
prisons, depression,
Form:
Rhyme
Prisons long for company,
Itching to swallow many;
One ruinous day and we are there,
In their confinement graduating to heir...
Simply an indictment mimicking a spear,
Scarcely reckoning how to others we are dear.
One doesn’t have to be misdeeds haunted,
Our handcuffs not by our infractions prompted;
In deed any allegation at last alighting on your skull,
By this preparing you for an enclave offering a life dull;
Crime crackers the thing prodding further,
Clinching a chance rounding it off as murder:
Just for the sums that from bailing sprout,
The consoling thousand from a pocket out.
Categories:
prisons, absence, anxiety, death, evil,
Form:
Rhyme
Bricks and cement do not make walls for a prison
Only cruel minds and premeditation
Is it not murder?
Is it not fraud and theft that locks one in?
Categories:
prisons, prison,
Form:
Imagism
Sun, moon, stars, and universe are captivations,
Scenes, sceneries, lands, landscapes are activations;
Like a child, at each lovely scene, I do wonder,
Today, to a certain concept, I surrender..!
=====
===
While third-degree punishments of severe beating,
Depriving prisoners - of food, drink; ill-treating:
With piercing needles betwixt nail and flesh and nose,
Electrocuting; What else? Who exactly knows…?
Indian prisons have become hells here on earth.
For killing and getting killed within, there's no dearth.
Poor imprisoned for the crimes of their rich masters,
Die and decay as though natural disasters...!
=====
===
Prisons of Norway are my captivation, hence.
Healing the criminals is in their moral sense;
Offenders are offended; why offend them again?
Pain is filling them; why, again, inflicting pain...?
It's another home for them though they are sinners,
Who’s not a sinner? Are all, outside, are winners...?
Environs and situations cause persons fall,
Isn't, yet, dignity given equal to all...?
Healthy food; clean shelter; reliving medicines;
Penances and atonements to get rid of their sins;
Training for the unfit to fit into this world;
Making them, in nature, like flowers to get furled...!
Dignity of women, like pearls and gems, preserved,
When needed, like remedies, protections reserved;
Male chauvinism, like cobras, when rises its hood,
Feminism too enters in and does what it should...!
=====
===
World that believes in cruelty to criminals,
Researches on these Norwegian principals;
Finds, Lo, herein, are criminal activities -
Lesser than other international cities...!
09 October 2022
Captivation Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Julia Ward
Categories:
prisons, humanity,
Form:
Rhyme
Traversing veiled and hazy twilight sleep
My thoughts meander and begin to creep
Through channels only visible at night
Unleashing fears kept harnessed by the light
When faces reappear from deep within
In shame, remorse enhances my chagrin
To face the truths of weakness hidden still
From those I’ve loved and lost through silent will
If I could only have just one more chance
To speak the words I felt within this dance
I’d scream with all the courage I could find
And leave behind the prisons of my mind
How we regret, not just some things we do
Yet worse, those left undone though not meant to
Like saying, I love you, to those we love
To end up just in dreams with thoughts thereof
Categories:
prisons, anxiety, loss, lost love,
Form:
Iambic Pentameter
These walls.
These walls are strong in structure.
These walls are as cold as ice.
These walls bake in the summer sunshine.
These walls know our truths, our fears, our lies.
These walls witness our darkest dreams living.
These walls see our happiest smiles.
These walls watch our bodies weaken.
These walls hear our most painful cries.
These walls are not just bricks and mortar.
These walls are the prisons of promise we bought for our lives.
Categories:
prisons, abuse, beauty, bereavement, cry,
Form:
Free verse