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Jimmy Santiago Baca
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Jimmy Santiago Baca Poems
- I Am Offering This Poem I am offering this poem to ...
- Who Understands Me But Me They turn the water off, so I live ...
- Like An Animal Behind the smooth texture Of my eyes, way ...
- Green Chile I prefer red chile over my eggs and potatoes for...
- A Daily Joy To Be Alive No matter how serene things may be ...
- Oppression Is a question of strength, of unshed tears, of ...
- Count-Time Everybody to sleep the guard symbolizes on his ...
Jimmy Santiago Baca is an American Poet and writer.
Life and Career
Jimmy Santiago Baca was born in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, in 1952. Abandoned by his parents at the age of two, he lived with one of his grandmothers for several years before being placed in an orphanage. He wound up living on the streets, and at the age of twenty-one he was convicted on charges of drug possession and incarcerated. He served six and a half years in prison, three of them in isolation, and having expressed a desire to go to school (the guards considered this dangerous), he was for a time put in the same area of the prison with the inmates on death row before he was ... more »
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I Am Offering This Poem
I am offering this poem to you,
since I have nothing else to give.
Keep it like a warm coat,
when winter comes to cover you,
or like a pair of thick socks
the cold cannot bite through,
I love you,
I have nothing else to give you,
so it is a pot full of yellow corn
to warm your belly in the winter,
it is a scarf for your head, to wear
over your hair, to tie up around your face,
I love you,
Keep it, treasure it as you would
if you were lost, needing direction,
in the wilderness life becomes when mature;
and in the corner of your ...
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Dear Mr. Baca,
I heard your poem, Sixteen, read on Boston Public Radio yesterday and was very moved by it. In two weeks, I am the speaker at the Sakonnet Peace Alliance, a group which meets every Sunday for a Peace Vigil I would be honored to read your poem and am hoping you might send me a copy of it. Thank you, Debby King, Westport, MA
Where can I find Sixteen?
Dear Mr Baca My name is Jeff Willoughby and I am in 7th grade. I had to recite a poet. I picked you because your poems are so beautifully written. I am such a huge fan. I recited " I Am Offering This Poem" That is my favorite poem. I just love that poem Mr Baca you email me it would be an honor me jrwilloghby07@gmail.com
Gjjjj
I am a student in year 9 and I just wanted to say how amazing Mr Baca's poetry really is. I had to recite Whu understands me but me for a class assignment and though it was difficult to remember every line, I really felt the meaning beneath the words on a page as I'm sure that the audience did too. All the feelings that reflect from these poems are exactly what I have felt or what I'm feeling. These peices are utterly amazing and beautiful. I really hope that everyone that reads them fully appreciates the time, effort, meaning, and feeling poured into each and every one of these outstanding poetry peices.
xoxo Steph(:
I am a poetry student at NMHU and saw Jimmy Santiago Baca reach out to his community with all his heart. Although I am white and a transplant to the state of NM, I saw that the local young men really were toughed as was a young black guy from California. NM and all other states should have more inspirational artists like Jimmy coming to tell stories and read aloud to a community to which they relate to and we wouldn't have so much crime, misunderstanding and the damnation of the few good men who still exist amongst an all- too- often cruel world. Even as I could not relate to the culture since I didn't grow up here, Baca was an inspiration and example that people have the control to become who they want to be even when their past circumstances have all but withered their desire to live! Thanks Jimmy Santiago Baca for being an inspiration for a better life in NM and for the young people who don't have the comforts of life handed to them on a silver platter! !
Willy, my old friend. I'm afraid you're mistaken, yet again... but I forgive you. And a poem is something like what Mr. Baca, a poet, made. The following is one of my favorite quotes from his poem 'Green Chile':
'I prefer...my eggs and potatoes for breakfast... in the wind... licking the breeze.'
Oh, and:
'But grandmother loves... sweating over the stove...for a dollar a bag...'
Those quotes really capture the true meaning of the poem, in my opinion.
*kfffffffff kfffffffff kfffffffff*
Two more questions:
1) What's a poem?
b) I'm so cool.
*psssssst* (whispers)
Hey. Who is Jimmy Santiago Baca and what does he do?
I think xman is completely wrong in saying that. Not based on the content that he posted, no. This is based on xman himself. You are always wrong in what you say and all your base are belong to me. Make your time. kfffffffffffffffff