I Am Offering This Poem

Jimmy Santiago Baca, an American poet of Hispanos descent, began writing poetry during five years he spent in prison (1973-1978) for drug charges. During these years, he learned to read and began writing the poetry that reflected his personal story of incarceration, and the complex world of the US penal system.

“I am Offering This Poem” deals with the themes of the importance of art for survival in oppressive environments, lack of material possessions and love.^[3]

It has been said to be a love poem that "insist[s] that love itself is a gift more valuable and sustaining than any material comfort."^[4]

• Text of "I Am Offering This Poem" at Poetry Foundation.
• More on Jimmy Santiago Baca
• Other Baca poems Archived 2019-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
• "I Am Offering This Poem" on YouTube