Language and Politicized Spaces in U.S. Latino Prison Poetry: 1970-1990‪.‬

This stanza from "It Started" (1) by Chicano prison-poet Jimmy Santiago Baca illustrates the importance that writing has for many prisoners as a method for coping with their confinement. Numerous individuals who have never written before discover their writing selves in prison; they are surprised to find both a hidden interest in, and a talent for, understanding and writing poetry. According to Joseph Bruchac, who has conducted poetry workshops in different prisons, "some of the most powerful poetry I have seen . . . has come out of prisons and has been written by men and women who had no experience with and no interest in poetry prior to being jailed" (289). Prisoners may not only see poetry as an emotional outlet, but also as a medium through which their voices can be heard. As perceived in the excerpt above, Baca is such an individual. Poetry thus offers an emotional sanctuary for escape and the "space" constructed allows the poet to explore not only the "self," but new forms of struggle as well. Poetry thereby becomes a medium through which new discourses can be initiated and the dialogue opened by the prisoner-poet enables the reader also to become engaged. Along with providing a "place" of contemplation for the author, this "sphere" thus becomes a forum for political issues as well.