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https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/who-understands-me-but-me/

Who Understands Me But Me -

I thought that this poem was incredibly uplifting. While that may not seem the case from the first stanza, the poem brought me a sense of joy and empowerment. I believe he is talking about his time in prison, with every they in the poem. In fact, every line accepting the last two begin with they. This too me makes they seem very much the antagonist of this poem. Yet, when reading forwards, I realized there was no antagonist to the poem, it’s about finding self-worth, and understanding who you are above having material possessions. It reminds me very much of a funny book I read clippings of called, “The Tao of Pooh,” talking about Winnie the Pooh and how he is the embodiment of Taoism. And Taoism is really exemplified here, talking about how self-worth and personal growth should be valued highly above material consumption, and how to reach a total state of euphoria, one must look past all that is wrong in life and come to accept it. Also, the second stanza of the poem really resonated well with me particularly. It was very uplifting, kind of like a body and soul book for woman above 50. The imagery of hidden parts of himself, “goaded out from under rocks in [his] heart,” was particularly interesting. It made me think of his heart (and my heart in return) as a sort of river, or creek. A very serene scene fills my mind with this imagery. Which is extended when he talks of befriending these new parts of him, “we laughed like children and made pacts to always be loyal,”. And when he befriended these parts of himself, forced out through oppression, he is able to come to terms with his life and actually love. That message resonates well within me, and is a quality I for one would really like to gain. The message of the poem, coming in the repeated line of, “who understands me when I say this is beautiful?” is one that is entirely beautiful. It speaks of a kind of bliss only achieved when you have truly come to completely understand yourself. A type of utopia is created in effect, a place so hard to reach, yet so beautiful staring in from the outside. But what he reinforces in the first stanza is that this utopia is only created through tough times and trouble. And that entire message really sat well with me, and empowered me in a kind of way that no other poem has.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49563/cloudy-day-56d22bc3b944c

Cloudy Day -

I think we see a little bit of a theme developing here - I love happy poems. And this here is another happy poem. Again, as with the poem before, this poem talks about tough times and wanting to love yourself. The first thing that catches my eyes are ONE of the messages of the poem. This particular message is that what you were does not define who you are today. He says this when talking first about his experience going to the prison, and then his mindset being out of it. He says when talking about going through years of prison, “I am strong enough to love you, love myself and feel good,”. Now I’ve never been to prison, nor have I done nothing so bad that I would have serious repercussions in life, but this note still sticks with me. Perhaps I’m a sucker for positive messages, and this may sound like something an English teacher would post on their wall, but it just cheers my day. This is always mentioned come back story. Everybody loves a comeback story. Another thing that I love about this poem is the extended metaphor of the wind. The wind starts out as sort of a brutal thing, described with words like, “crashes,” “clunks,” “swings,”. But as the tone of poem shifts from dark and gloomy to bright and cheery, the wind is now described as, “The wind plays it like a flute.” Also there is a lot of environmental imagery, raging from barren to blooming. Saying the the guard, “tower like a cornstalk,

and snap it from its roots of rock.” Then when he is released from prison, he talks of spring - a stark contrast to the roots of rock from before. Curious that cornstalk, something harvested and planted, is juxtaposed with a root of rock. I’m not sure what I should take it to mean. Perhaps it talks of how the prison is the crop yield of human work, but born in bad soil? I don’t know, it’s just a really beautiful mystery with this poem. But, again, the moral of the story is - don’t break down, don’t sink to what the old you would make of yourself, instead strive to better yourself AND better understand yourself. And it’s these kinds of messages that I love in life, and that is profoundly examined in Baca’s poems. But this examination allows me to also examine myself and reflect on myself as a person, and that is exactly what a great poem does.

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https://www.npr.org/2014/01/04/259442690/jimmy-santiago-baca-from-prison-to-poetry - On his prison time and illiteracy.

https://www.kenyonreview.org/2017/08/an-interview-with-poet-teacher-and-activist-jimmy-santiago-baca/ - On Ceder Tree, his time in the Orphanage, and his activism.

Poems:
https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/count-time/ - Prison Time

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53092/i-am-offering-this-poem - Loving Poetry

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49555/as-children-know - Poem about love and nature

Poem Reading:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm7U9BtPXXM - I Am Offering this Poem

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Jimmy Santiago Baca was abandoned by his parents when he was two years old. He stayed with his grandmother for a few years, but then was put into an orphanage. At the ripe old age of 13 ran away from the orphanage he was put into. His next portion of his life was rather dark, being convicted of multiple felonies including drug possession other drug related charges. He went to prison which is where he learned how to read and write, and would become the source of a lot of his emotion and what would make him who he is. Once again on the outside of the prison walls, he began to write poems and books about his time in prison, and the ideals and views he now holds from his life experiences. He typically likes to cover controversies like social justice and disenfranchised people. The awards he has won include: The American Book Award, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature, Pushcart Prize, the International Award, and the Cornelius P. Turner Award. Since he began writing, Baca has created Cedar Tree, a foundation which teaches reading and writing to children, prisoners, and ex-prisoners. He has been an activist of teaching literacy for the past forty years. He has not only written poems and books, but also short stories, collections, a play, a movie transcript, and an actual produced movie called Blood in Blood Out. A truly remarkable man.

Bibliography:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/jimmy-santiago-baca

https://poets.org/poet/jimmy-santiago-baca

https://www.heinemann.com/authors/5085.aspx