Reality can be difficult to face. People constantly speak of changing, but many don’t, due to the hardships that come along with it. Through these poems "I Am Offering This Poem", "Who Understands Me But Me", and "Immigrants In Our Own Land", Jimmy Santiago Baca explains to his audience the story of growth that he undergoes. The memoir begins informing the readers on the early life of Baca then transitions to how it shaped him to get through the tough problems that prison threw at him. With prison comes many obstacles. People on the other side of the bars can only imagine what life must have been like for Baca. Jimmy overcomes these negatives and does the best he can to turn them into positives. His prison life begins as him being very illiterate but he teaches himself to read and eventually begins to write. His accomplishments are the start to a major transition in life, down a positive path, as seen in Baca's memoir, A Place To Stand.
The mind is a powerful place. If one starts to …show more content…
To him, poetry makes the world go round. The poems provide guidance that Baca needs to continue in life.”Keep it, treasure this as you would if you were lost, needing direction,” (I am Offering This Poem). Throughout his childhood, Baca lived in poverty. He came from nothing and uses that as his reasoning as to why he sits in prison. The most valuable gift that Baca feels he can provide to others currently, is the gift of poetry; the ultimate gift. Poems provide a type of comfort to Baca, which in a way, makes him feel at home. He writes in hopes of helping others and leading them down the right path. Baca states “Keep it like a warm coat or like a pair of thick socks.” This quote refers to provisional protection provided in poetry. From Baca’s point of view, poetry will save a life. The meaningful words that piece perfectly together can bring reassurance to a person in a time of need, as it did for Jimmy Santiago
The mind is a powerful place. If one starts to …show more content…
To him, poetry makes the world go round. The poems provide guidance that Baca needs to continue in life.”Keep it, treasure this as you would if you were lost, needing direction,” (I am Offering This Poem). Throughout his childhood, Baca lived in poverty. He came from nothing and uses that as his reasoning as to why he sits in prison. The most valuable gift that Baca feels he can provide to others currently, is the gift of poetry; the ultimate gift. Poems provide a type of comfort to Baca, which in a way, makes him feel at home. He writes in hopes of helping others and leading them down the right path. Baca states “Keep it like a warm coat or like a pair of thick socks.” This quote refers to provisional protection provided in poetry. From Baca’s point of view, poetry will save a life. The meaningful words that piece perfectly together can bring reassurance to a person in a time of need, as it did for Jimmy Santiago