Tag Archives: American poets

Anthem to Abolish the 13th Amendment (Music Video)

January 21, 2023African American poetry, African-American, art, Black Culture, Neo Jim Crow, neo Jim Crow art, Performing Arts, poetry, prison poems, Prisons, short stories, street art, Uncategorized13th Amendment, African American poetry, American poets, black art, Black Culture, Black Liberation, Black Lives Matter, Die Jim Crow, Donald "C-Note" Hooker, Formerly Incarcerated, Hip Hop, Min King X Pyeface, Music Video, Prisons, Rap, Scarfacedarealprisonart

Anthem to Abolish the 13th Amendment (Music Video)
Min King X Pyeface feat. Scarface

After serving 24 years behind bars for Bank robbery, 6 years in the feds, and 18 in California’s maximum security prisons, Min King X AKA Pyeface had hit the ground running, when he was released in July of 2019.

No other rapper in Hip Hop has done more through art-activism (Artivist), in the past three and a half years to highlight the plight of the men and women behind bars than the George Jackson of Rapp. A reference to George Lester Jackson, the 1970s prisoner and activist, whose murder in San Quentin during a prison riot, led to the worst prison riot in US history, at Attica, three weeks later, and a name given to King X by fellow prisoners, when he lived amongst them.

Anthem to Abolish the 13th Amendment features the legendary Godfather of Southern Hip Hop Scarface, whose long-standing political rap flows clearly impacted and influenced the early rap lyrics of both Ice Cube and 2Pac.

Also included amongst the political graphics is the artwork Incarceration Nation. Created in July of 2017, by California prison artist C-Note, as a promotional piece for the August 19th 2017, Millions For Prisoners Human Rights March, held in Washington DC and across the US, including Internationally, Incarceration Nation has become America’s premier artwork on mass incarceration.

Incarceration Nation (2017), Graphite on paper, Donald “C-Note” Hooker

HEY THERE

June 16, 2022poetry, Prisons, Uncategorized, WomenAmerican poets, Black Lives Matter, California, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Incarcerated Writers, jail poetry, MeToo, Mprisond Poetz, neo Jim Crow art, neo Jim Crow art poems, neo Jim Crow poetry, poetry, Prison, prison art, prison poems, prison poetry, Prison Writers, Prisons, Restorative Justice, Transgender, Women Poets, women prisonersdarealprisonart

by Sherie Jarvis

Thanks for the strength and the courage you have shown.

People blow in the wind forgetting that with help change is growing.

People like me broken but still manage to keep the love flowing…

It was once #metoo, I am #transgender and #black lives matter even in this prison

where the way I look keeps bad chatter.

I’ve fallen but if they’ll remove their foot off my neck I can get up and breathe.

Scattered scars, bruised heart, memories that don’t leave.

Childhood in a wild hood just now learning to read.

Understand my struggle before calling me a bad seed.

HEY THERE no one was there why didn’t they take the time to love me.

God is near, but why didn’t they physically hug me.

When the masks come off and the smoke has cleared,

when all lives matter and no one is weird just maybe I’ll make it home to say

HEY THERE.

Special thanks to the The Fire Inside for sharing this poem and poet, published in The Fire Inside, Issue Number 61, Summer 2020

The Fire Inside is a Newsletter of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners

4400 Market St., Oakland, Ca. 94608

For Vickie

January 1, 2021art, poetry, Prisons, WomenAmerican poets, Incarcerated Writers, jail poetry, Mprisond Poetz, poetry, Prison, prison art, prison poems, prison poetry, Prison Writers, Prisons, Taylor Lytle, Women Poetsdarealprisonart

Help i can’t breathe
Was her only plea
But it was not met with urgency and now beautiful soul gone too soon
Preventable yes
But CDCR is never accountable for their mess
So we stand here and protest
We shout the names of our lost loved one
Vickie we love you
Vickie we will fight for you
Vickie you won’t die in vain
Vickie we are sorry
Sorry because we couldn’t save you from a system that enslaved you
The same system that claimed they wanted to help you
Failed you
We, your sisters and brothers, are sorry that we are still powerless in 2019 from preventing these systems from destroying our families
CIW u r guilty
Of inmate cruelty
I have no reason to lie
I once was a victim you see
No more hiding behind these gates
The truth has been told
We’re shutting you down
I promise you that
even if cost me my soul
Screaming no more deaths is becoming a little too old
We are taking the power back
We will see that to it that you get closed
For good
Thank you

by Taylor Lytle

[Editor’s Note]: Originally published in The Fire Inside (Newsletter of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners), Issue Number 60, Fall 2019.

IN ANY EVENT

January 1, 2021African-American, art, Black Culture, Neo Jim Crow, poetry, Prisons, UncategorizedAfrican American poetry, American poets, black art, black art poem, Black Culture, black poets, imprisoned African American poetry, imprisoned African American poets, Kenny Jacobs II, Kool the Poet, Mprisond Poetz, neo Jim Crow art, neo Jim Crow art poems, neo Jim Crow poetry, New Jim Crow, new Jim Crow art, New Jim Crow art poetry, poetry, Prison, prison art, prison poems, prison poetry, Prison Writers, Prisonsdarealprisonart

IN ANY EVENT
Manifesting a dream by sticking to the script on the team of the righteous what can be better than this
Probably guided although there’s a tendency to drift
The race is not to the Swift
Not to the gifted
But to all who patiently preserve will be uplifted

IN ANY EVENT
it’s not the goal but the process to which we endure
it’s not the gold but the struggle to become pure
sure to win with the love of God
rising above sin to beat the odds
what we’ll receive in return is blessings of the spirit
The ability to discern written down in lyrics
To serve as a legacy never-to-be-forgotten
A theme that can never be switched

IN ANY EVENT
we’ll make it make sense
IN ANY EVENT
By sticking to the script
IN ANY EVENT

Unprecedented Quotes

January 1, 2021African-American, Black Culture, Neo Jim Crow, poetry, UncategorizedAfrican American poetry, American poets, black art, black art poem, Black Culture, black poets, imprisoned African American poetry, imprisoned African American poets, Inspirational, jail poetry, Kenny Jacobs II, Kool the Poet, Mprisond Poetz, neo Jim Crow art poems, neo Jim Crow poetry, New Jim Crow, New Jim Crow art poetry, poetry, Prison, prison art, prison poems, prison poetry, Prison Writers, Prisonsdarealprisonart

These are The Words of a Genius

UNPRECEDENTED QUOTES

created by way of desire to inspire hope
Now they know when at first they didn’t
Now it show and many are smitten legitimate skills learned through self-education self-made elevation earned as a chosen occupation
These are its revelations
equipped with remnants of the greats that passed away
Reminiscent of the beauty and brilliance that’ll never decay
Always its sway seems to resurrect even through extreme poverty and disrespect
It’s been tried and true
It’s rise is expedient
Producing good fruit
The words of a genius
Never before known but exceptional and sound
originated to epitomize perfection and cultivate a style
service with a smile used as a mechanism to cope
who knew it would give several people hope
These are the words of a genius UNPRECEDENTED QUOTES

AUDIO: Can’t Black Lives Matter Too???

June 24, 2020African American poetry, African-American, art, Black Culture, neo Jim Crow art, poetry, prison poems, Prisons, UncategorizedAfrican American poetry, American poets, black art, black art poem, Black Culture, Black Lives Matter, black poets, Donald "C-Note" Hooker, imprisoned African American poetry, imprisoned African American poets, Incarcerated Writers, Inspirational, jail poetry, Mprisond Poetz, neo Jim Crow art, neo Jim Crow art poems, neo Jim Crow poetry, New Jim Crow art poetry, poetry, prison art, prison poems, prison poetry, Prison Writers, Prisons, Restorative Justice, spoken word, street poetrydarealprisonart

DAREALPRISONART · Can't Black Lives Matter Too???

by Donald “C-Note” Hooker

JOURNEY TO AFROFUTURISM

On a journey
long, long, ago
Afrofuturism was long-sought
The maps of its existence
were misleading
like the maps to Wakanda
but She
a student at an HBC
found the truth
Afrofuturism
would not be found in Africa
but California
Like the Raiders to the Lost Ark
who sought God’s covenant
so too
Spanish Conquistadors
sought the Califia
The Queen
of the land
of Black women
She ruled with a Saber-tooth scepter
adorned gloves
from the Mammoth’s wool
She nursed
the Earth’s oldest and tallest trees
in the forests
of Redwoods
Invited the Blue whale
Earth’s largest mammal
to suckle her young
off Her coastal waters
In ancient times
Her Queendom fed the world
In modern times
It’s called
America’s
richest
farming region
But She
a student
from HBC
just like me
Prayed
to the Queen Mother
at a place
known as
Nob Hill
in San Francesco de Assisi
is enshrined
a mural
in a hotel
for one-percenters
The Califia spake
to our dear sister
in a way
only understood
by feminine energy
and so she wrote
as only a scholar can
the map
to Afrofuturism
It did not lead to Wakanda
in Africa
or the East
Where the Sun rises
but in the West
Where the Sun sets
in America
will Afrofuturism nurse itself
In the Queendom
of the Califia
California

Poet’s Note: For the uninitiated, California’s name derived from a Black woman
Copyright 2020 Donald “C-Note” Hooker

Keep On Living

January 30, 2020African-American, art, Black Culture, poetry, UncategorizedAfrican American poetry, American poets, black art, black art poem, Black Culture, black poets, Eric W. Davis, imprisoned African American poetry, imprisoned African American poets, Inspirational, jail poetry, Mprisond Poetz, neo Jim Crow art, neo Jim Crow art poems, neo Jim Crow poetry, poetry, Prison, prison art, prison poems, prison poetry, Prison Writers, Prisons, Sami A. Mateendarealprisonart

When when you feel that life is a blank
It’s a sure time for you to give thanks
Search your subconscious it truly knows
It’s a true friend of all lonely Souls

Life is a struggle from the time it’s conceived
It’s all worth living if you only believe
The greatest gift available has been given to you
Be thankful and be true to life and see what it does for you

We’ve all got something coming some good and some bad
In our search for happiness we learn what it is to be sad
It’s the way of the world and Nature’s always fair
Never showing just one of anything but always revealing a pair

So take hold of your life it’s preciousness is divine
The things you can never get enough of are truly life and time
So be considerate of life and consciousness of time
For in their true Essence their neither yours nor mine

By Eric W. Davis aka Sami A. Mateen

Black Rose

December 14, 2019African-American, art, Black Culture, Performing Arts, UncategorizedAfrican American poetry, American poets, black art, black art poem, Black Culture, Black Liberation, black poets, Darryl Burnside, Donald "C-Note" Hooker, imprisoned African American poetry, imprisoned African American poets, Inspirational, jail poetry, Mprisond Poetz, neo Jim Crow art poems, neo Jim Crow poetry, new Jim Crow art, poetry, Prison, prison poetry, Prisonsdarealprisonart

Unique and unexpected this black rose.
Its Essence is of a rock, the strength is within…
With the stiff fluffy it does not wither.
My black is beautiful, my black is tough.
Imagine it rising from the concrete?
Think of its scent?
Here, take a whiff,
the eloquent fragrance, it’s Heaven Sent!!!!
The possibilities are endless,
just visualize its song?
The month of February Marks Its Beginning.
You see, in the mind’s eye its resilience is encouraged by the spirit of Mother Nature…
Envision this complicated living, Thug the label I was giving but I didn’t want this.
Runaway slave because I refuse to be crammed in on a slave ship.
Abandoned and rejected like Jesus Christ,
not protected as an adolescent,
not loved by Society, but Still the Lord bless me,
because every time folks strut pass me:
they gawk in amazement because I’m #Mixedish…
Hope you realize you blessed?
The trials and tribulations of a ghetto kid.,
who once didn’t love his Black skin.
Still standing strong through many storms, fingerprint of God.
Nurtured by those with loving hands facilitating its growth–
re storing Justice and healing it’s wounded pedals.
Gorgeous black rose with the life blood of a million Souls Rising through its roots straight from the concrete.

By Darryl Burnside

A Healing Place

March 10, 2019African American poetry, African-American, art, Black Culture, neo Jim Crow art, poetry, UncategorizedAfrican American poetry, American poets, black art, black art poem, Black Culture, Black Lives Matter, black poets, Darryl Burnside, imprisoned African American poetry, imprisoned African American poets, Incarcerated Writers, Inspirational, jail poetry, Mprisond Poetz, new Jim Crow art, New Jim Crow art poetry, poetry, Prison, prison art, prison poems, Restorative Justice, street poetrydarealprisonart

A single Hawk Glides across the sky, a sign of Hope. Alone, i stand marveling at this beautiful place. A place of healing wounds that cannot be seen. War a distant memory. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Here he provides me all that I need. A quiet place. He allows me to lie down in Green Pastures, a water bearer to lead me to rest beside These Quiet Waters. A pleasant place to restore my soul. Yes, I’m considered blessed no longer stressed, even though I didn’t travel through muddy waters a search of a mother’s love. Condemned, because of my father’s past transgression. Through it all I fear no evil; for you are with me. When I bowed down on one knee, trembling in defeat, it was you who Lifted me and led me to this Pleasant place of grace and mercy. Surely healing and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life.

Inspired by Psalms 23

By Darryl Tyrone Burnside.

Mprisondpoetz

Poetry From Thoz Mprisond