{"id":4385,"date":"2023-07-13T12:49:45","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T16:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/?p=4385"},"modified":"2023-07-13T12:49:46","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T16:49:46","slug":"a-poem-for-a-thursday-232","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/13\/a-poem-for-a-thursday-232\/","title":{"rendered":"A Poem for a Thursday #232"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Thom Holmes<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Jimmy Santiago Baca is an American poet, memoirist, and screenwriter. He had a difficult childhood and at age 13 he ran away from the orphanage he had been placed in. By age 21 he was convicted on charges of drug possession and incarcerated for 5 years. While he was in prison he taught himself to read and write and started to compose poetry. Baca’s writing “revolves around the marginalized and disenfranchised, treating themes of addiction, community, and the American Southwest barrios.” Baca says of his writing, “I approach language as if it will contain who I am as a person.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I am offering this poem to you,\nsince I have nothing else to give.\nKeep it like a warm coat\nwhen winter comes to cover you,\nor like a pair of thick socks\nthe cold cannot bite through,\n\n                           I love you,\n\nI have nothing else to give you,\nso it is a pot full of yellow corn\nto warm your belly in winter,\nit is a scarf for your head, to wear\nover your hair, to tie up around your face,\n\n                          I love you,\n\nKeep it, treasure this as you would\nif you were lost, needing direction,\nin the wilderness life becomes when mature;\nand in the corner of your drawer,\ntucked away like a cabin or hogan\nin dense trees, come knocking,\nand I will answer, give you directions,\nand let you warm yourself by this fire,\nrest by this fire, and make you feel safe\n\n                         I love you,\n\nIt's all I have to give,\nand all anyone needs to live,\nand to go on living inside,\nwhen the world outside\nno longer cares if you live or die;\nremember,\n\n                          I love you.\n\nI Am Offering This Poem\nJimmy Santiago Baca<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jimmy Santiago Baca is an American poet, memoirist, and screenwriter. He had a difficult childhood and at age 13 he ran away from the orphanage he had been placed in. By age 21 he was convicted on charges of drug possession and incarcerated for 5 years. While he was in prison he taught himself to read and write and started to compose poetry. Baca’s writing “revolves around the marginalized and disenfranchised, treating themes of addiction, community, and the American Southwest barrios.” Baca says of his writing, “I approach language as if it will contain who I am as a person.” 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 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 this as you would if you were lost, needing direction, in the wilderness life becomes when mature; and in the corner of your drawer, tucked away like a cabin or hogan in dense trees, come knocking, and I will answer, give you directions, and let you warm yourself by this fire, rest by this fire, and make you feel safe I love you, It’s all I have to give, and all anyone needs to live, and to go on living inside, when the world outside no longer cares if you live or die; remember, I love you. I Am Offering This Poem Jimmy Santiago Baca<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poem-for-a-thursday"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4387,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4385\/revisions\/4387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}