Jimmy Santiago Baca Poetry As Lifesaver Analysis

In his article “Jimmy Santiago Baca: Poetry as Lifesaver,” Rob Baker gives detail on how Baca survived life in prison, his savior being poetry, he taught himself how to read and write so that he could participate in the creative art. The pros talk about how Baca turned his life around with poetry, and how it got him off the street, however, one major con is, while in prison, Baca supposedly taught himself how to read and write after not learning to do so for over 20 years. Even though Baca has been through tough times, he was taught perseverance and he was able to climb out of a ‘black hole’ by learning about poetry, it was there for him when nothing else was. Baca grew up on the streets, as a teenager he been in several juvenile detention centers, he had been caught up in drugs, alcohol, and other bad things that eventually lead him to …show more content…
If it wasn’t for a man in a church program Baca may have died in prison. Poetry taught Baca how to think clearly, how to speak differently, and how to live his life better. According to Baker ”Poetry changed Baca’s life forever.” Baca says “I believe something in my nervous system was impacted by poetry,” (895). He discovered a whole new world, this lead him to helping teenagers who were like him when he was their age, to having a family, to being a better person. Poetry is a beautiful art that can change a human’s perspective on things, it can be a light in dark times, for Baca it was. Any type of art can have that sort of power, it can be so beautiful and well put together that it speaks to people, it has a way of revealing certain emotions. Baca was one the lucky ones, one whose life had been saved by this art called poetry. Baca discovered a whole new world, one that wasn’t gloomy. Poetry was something that he fell in love with, to him, it was worth fighting for, it was his muse. He had a way with words, they spoke to him,