every hear of ethridge knight?
korean war vet, heroin addict, went to prison. while in prison, he let out his rage in poetry, which was discovered and published and he ended up a huge voice of black poetry, teaching at university.
his stuff is good, it's "real," a friend turned me on to him, now i'm passing it on to whoever cares.
you can see some of his poems here:
Etheridge Knight Poems and Poetry