Inmate Writing

The Book Club & Writing Workshop inspires youths to write about their own life experiences, often for the first time. When they see other young inmates — of widely divergent writing abilities — standing up and reading aloud to the group, new members are emboldened to write and share their own words. In an environment where emotions are often suppressed, such writing can be extremely healing, as evidenced by the following poem written by a 17 year-old:

Daddy’s a Man Now

By Antwon Holcomb

I can’t explain how bad I feel inside
Waking up in a cell sometimes Daddy cries
And that don’t make your father any less of a man
I love u with all my heart
And when you get older u will understand
That your father made a lot of wrong choices
I think I’m going crazy ‘cause I keep hearing u and your mom’s voices
Saying, “Baby, stay strong. Daddy please don’t be away long!”
I get mad when I hear the pain in your mother’s voice on the phone
It brings a tear to my eyes ‘cause I left u in the world alone
I told my baby moms, I’m ready to make a change
For my daughter I’m a man up and turn my back on the street game
Plus, I must say your mother’s strong
For holding the fort down
I once was a boy
But Daddy’s a man now

Pen Fiend

By DeCario

As I sit back
And operate this pen
In my mind
I feel like I’m a pen fiend
Sick with words
Sick with the pen
Whoa! Just had a brain freeze
Right back at it
Like your every day dope addict
Sick, can’t go without it
Got to write about it
In my eyes
I see the light
And only I can see what to write
Every day and night
I think, am I doing what’s right?
This is my life
Some say pray to Christ
But every time I think about it
I am back writin’ with the pen
Sick with so many emotions
And no one to talk to
So who can I turn to
But my pen
I’m just your every day pen fiend

Can This Be Life?

By K.B.

Can this be life?
Is it over for me and my peers who walk the tiers?
Looking for a way out?
Like plants wanting water
A refreshing drink in a drought
I’m starving for a better existence
I’m losing resistance to reside in “this turmoil of delusion and lust”
Winter is setting in
But the hearts of men been cold and tough
Corpses dragging themselves throughout the day
Begging for life
And despite the toughness
They pray
Hoping for light
From the dark tunnel that hinders man’s cries
Needing support
But left with severed ties
Shouts of help are responded to with goodbyes
Too many masked men in this world of pretend
One could lose one’s self
Pleading to a reflection for help
So I ask
Can this be life?

Suited and Booted and Ready for School

By Major

I remember I used to get real fresh
I’d look like a young player
My mother used to make me wear a suit
Walking into school, at first I felt like a damned fool
I didn’t know how important I looked
In the classroom everyone thought
I was from a rich family
But I wasn’t ever raised with a silver spoon
I was just suited and booted and ready for school

There’s Enough for Everybody

By Q.

Relax, take a deep breath
No rush
There’s enough
Enough for everybody
Be patient
There’s enough time
Enough food
Enough love
Enough respect
There’s enough money to go around
No more robbing
There’s enough fun
So spread it
There’s enough shoes
No need to steal or kill
There’s a whole life
For people to go through
There’s enough for everybody

Incarcerated

By Robert, aka Rah-Rah

Brick walls, fences, and razor wire criss-crossed in a bind
Feelings overlooked ‘cause remorse is the punishment of crime
No warmth lives here but the wind that chilled
Where it’s a lot of counterfeit ‘cause fake outweigh the real
Not always behind walls and locked doors while doing time
But in the outside world, incarcerated in the mind
Not always what it seems, sometimes a blessing
Only what you make of it, not always unpleasant
A learning experience that’s strongly reckoned with
A chapter of one’s life that’ll never just shift
Forever with you, there all the way to the end
But what will you gain? Strength? Or will you bend?

Who Will Be There To Stay?

By Stephen

If I’ve got secrets to tell
Who can I tell?
If my dreams get broken somehow
Who will remind me I belong?
If I need some place to hide
Who will hold my hand for a while?
If my sky begins to fall
Who will stay with me til I smile?
If I ever need some space
Who will give it?
If someone breaks my heart
Who will help me unbreak it?
If I feel sad or empty inside
Who will show me I’m not alone?
If I get lost out there
Who will come and show me the way home?
If I need to get away
Who will go with me?
And if nothing seems to be going right and I need a friend
Who will be there to stay?

My Thoughts

By Shawn

I’m not happy about the path I chose
But happy about life itself
I’m not happy how I went about it
But happy how I stacked my wealth
I’m trying to think about the good days
And let the bad ones past
I thought I was moving slow
But really I was moving too fast
Tryin’ to control the car
But all I did was crash
Tryin’ to hang in there
But I just couldn’t last
Now I’m in jail
Reminiscing of good days
Now I got to come up
With a plan of better ways

One Day

By D.E.

One day I was locked up
I thought it was the end of my life
One day my eyes were shut closed
Until God opened them
“Wait for me,” he say
My destiny is to wait for God and his word
When I’m free I will get my GED
And a good job
And start a family
My destiny is to do what’s best for me and others
One day

The Rain

By Dobey

So many tears fall from my eyes
Too many questions and so many lies
I made the mistake
I fell in love with you
I thought I was lucky
One of the few
I should have known it wouldn’t last
Feeling your love is just in the past
People asked, “Can you stand the rain?”
But now I can’t
‘Cause it brings too much pain

The Dream!

By David

This is the dream that everybody trying to snatch
A whip on 24’s making it rain
Sip Moet by the six-pack
Excuse me, but to keep it real, the stuff is whack
Now these days everybody wanna slang butter
But we’ll post up all day and night
And not do the same with our mother
Hanging with friends we call our brothers
Telling each other I love ya’
But if one of ya’ brothers get killed
And you was the last one he was with
They’ll be the first to gun ya
Shawty, that’s crazy
But that’s ya’ lifestyle
So if you wanna change…then do it
Right now

Destiny

By DeAndre

My name is Deandre
My destiny is to stop the revolving door with my family
Because the males in my family always in jail or dead
Or not there for their families
So now I am a young man that is 17 years old
That is locked up
I’m about to start my own family
So I have to step up my game up
As a young man and as a leader in my family
To stop the bad
And bring in the new
That’s my destiny

I Remember

By Derrick

I remember when life was all about fun
Football, basketball…never about guns
I used to sit in the house and watch cartoons
Now it’s so much death on the news
In everything I did, I always excelled
Now I’m stuck in this little a** cell
I wish I could take back the stupid decision I made
Sometimes when I lay down, I wish my life could fade
I have so much talent, but it’s wasted on this
I just sit back and say “Life’s a bitch”
I sit in my cell sometimes and cry
‘Cause the way I live can’t be true—it has to be a lie
It’s so much violence, need to increase the peace
I wish violence was germs, ‘cause I keep some bleach
My life was hell, I wish people could see
Slavery is over, but I’m still not free
Doing wrong is easy, but doing right is hard
My mind travels to different places—I think it’s on Mars
The world is falling, someone yell “Timber!”
This is just some of the stuff that I remember

I Live In a Place

By Douglas

I live in a place where it’s dark
Where people always lie
Where the only time people come together
Is when one die
But the thing that hurts the most
Is when they mothers cry
‘Cause I swear I live in a place
Where only the good ones die
I was young and into sports
Kickin’ it with my friends
We all had the same dream
A dubbed out Benz
Only one way to get it and we all knew how
So we started selling drugs and made it our life
Robbing the old, helping the new
I wish back then, I only knew

Slowly Fading Away

By Jonas

I feel like I’m slowly fading
Like smoke into thin air
In constant search of a caring soul
But no one really cares
It’s rare to find a genuine heart, truly sincere and kind
Expecially when you end up in a predicament like mine
Snatched away from society at a very young age
With no guidance and no structure, I was living in a haze
But the past is done and gone and my future seems bleak
I’m slowly fading away
Like a drunk when he drinks
I think this life is worth living
Sometimes it’s hard to tell
It’s like I was born into Satan’s hands, then cast into hell
My potential is at a peak, where I’m beginning to see
But twenty years from now, who knows where I’ll be
Still locked in a cell where my potential and worth is a “was”—a thing of the past
So vast my dreams and goals, things I aspire to achieve
It’s a daily struggle for me to continue to believe
To believe that I could actually be more than a thug
To believe that a woman still wants to give me a kiss with her love
Still wants to see me smile and tell me I’m so cute
To see that I’ve blossomed into a wonderful man
Though I didn’t have rich roots
Locked away like this, everyone seems to forget
I’m slowly fading away
Into a bottomless pit
Out of sight, out of mind, damn it’s a shame
Sometimes I wonder if certain people even remember my name
In a predicament like this you become very aware
Before, ignorance was bliss and you don’t know to be scared
I feel like I have so much to offer
But am I really even here?
Time waits for no one, and no one sees my tears
I’m ripe and ready for whatever
I’m 21 years young
Sometimes my soul feels 80, like it’s almost done
I’m slowly fading away
Into a mist of confusion
Constantly wondering if my life is just an illusion

Faith

By Talib

If you have faith
Then you have one fear
Come here and hear
If you have faith
You “will” reach your goals
No matter what you were told
In this wicked cold world
To have faith you must believe you can achieve
And never allow anyone to cause or make you grieve
Faith is more than action
It goes beyond this world
Believe in the Supreme who created us all people
Human beings

My Relations With the Street

By D.T.

As I think about the streets, I think what they’ve done for me
The pain, the sweat, the tears, the urge and grind to eat
When I fell and didn’t succeed, I felt some great defeat
Hustlers, robbers, killers, they’ve all been good to me
I stop and think about my relations with the street
And if I don’t stay strong, I might could be dead meat
The loneliness drives me to commit crimes
But in the back of my mind I stay thinkin’ about dying
So what would the streets care if I was six feet deep?
I stop and think about my relations with the streets

© Copyright 2006 Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop