Jimmy Santiago Baca's A Place To Stand

Jimmy Santiago Baca’s A Place to Stand shows the change Baca goes through while in prison for six and a half years. With several charges of drug possession, no one believed he would be a better person. However, through the power of poetry, he managed to become an incredible writer, he was able to come out of prison a new man. Many believe that the prison system needs a reform, that people going in are the same or even worse when coming back out. Yet, Baca was different, he managed to stay away from wrongdoings through poetry. His poems , “I am Offering This Poem”, “Who Understands Me but Me”, and “Immigrants in Our Own Land” convey multiple messages of character transformation that the author depicts within his prison memoir A Place to Stand.
Time and time again he showed his idea of reform of the prison system. The government throws people in just to fill the profit and meet the quota set per year. His poem, “Who Understands Me but Me” is describing Baca’s time at the prison. In the first stanza, he repeats multiple lines with “They” either describing the higher powers. He then proceeds the “they” with phrases that show adversity, with Baca’s response on how he coped with these problems. Such as, “They turn the water off, so I live without water,” (“Who Understands Me but Me” showing exactly how resilient prison has made Baca. Then, at the end of the first stanza, he finishes it with, “Who understands me when I say this is beautiful? Who understands me when I say I found other freedoms?” describing how outsiders wouldn’t believe Baca if he were to tell them he was happy when all of these difficulties are in his path. His troubles seemed too great for anyone to understand where he is coming from. The second stanza begins with Baca stating he is nothing more than a mere mortal man. He doesn’t have powers akin to God, he is just Jimmy Santiago Baca. But he is proud of who he is, what makes him Jimmy Santiago Baca, such as his failures, and his personality. He knows he is not perfect, but it shows how much he has changed from the beginning of his life. He has gone through hardships such as depression, but he has also met prosperity with grace, and humbleness. His life has been an never ending battle and he is happy how far he has