Narvaez, 1

Yessenia Narvaez
Professor Adler
English 1A STACC #32474
February 26, 2016
A Change in Life
To write is to have the potential to express everything and anything with words. It is a factor that
is constantly used every day. There is a concept known as change writing disclosed by Mary Pipher in
her book called Writing to Change the World. According to Pipher, change writing is writing in
which you can influence or make connections with others by using writing itself. Someone who has
experienced said change writing is Jimmy Santiago Baca who was once seen as just a prisoner but is
now known as an amazing author. Baca wrote a book called Singing at the Gates: Selected Poems in
which is filled with poems he once wrote while incarcerated. In the poems Looking and The Rusting
Sky Baca writes using a dark tone to express a positive outcome using both hidden messages and
somber images to bring about how writing changed his life.
A sentence alone can have numerous meanings. In The Rusting Sky Baca writes, But to open
my eyes only for the night? No no, its too strongso strong is the night, that no shadow can protect me
from its brightness (61). This stanza in itself is a contradiction. Night is supposed to categorized as
pitch black, but for some odd reason Baca approaches it with the word brightness. Why is that? What
could be thought in this part of the poem is how at night, people tend to go through a scene where
countless of absorbed negative thoughts are assessed about their life. The brightness can be seen as the
challenges Baca encountered as he was growing up because brightness itself is radiant. His eyes can
be expressed as his mind, hence his avoidance to open them. He does not want to let these thoughts

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cloud his head so he chooses to ignore them. Altogether, there can still be countless ways for this
particular sentence to be viewed but its all in the way the reader comprehends it for themselves.
There is something unusually bizarre, yet fascinating, about eerie material. Baca seems to grasp
this an entwine his own words together to make the reader envision something vile in their head in his
poem Looking. Baca writes, I feel something in me move---one movement in particular crawls out of
the dark in me, a dead hand in a bloody drugged knuckles unfolding, coming to life (28). This stanza
pours out a bleak image. Although it definitely gives out a vibe of ominous material, Baca is most likely
using these words to bring about something else. The movement mentioned can be meant as when he
first experienced the sensation of writing. The dead hand on bloody drugged knuckles (28) can be seen
as his gloomy past. Together, it can be viewed as a transition from blocking out his past, stated in the
previous poem, to using his past adversities to say something about them. Furthermore, the last line can
be illustrated as Baca being reborn when came upon writing to express himself. All in all, Baca uses a
conflicting tone to insinuate something positive.
In regards to Piphers concept, Baca influenced his own life with writing. Pipher writes, Writing
to connect is change writing which, like good therapy, creates the conditions that allow people to be
transformed (8). In relation to Baca, it can be seen that he incorporated his own life and combined it
with writing about it. By doing so, he altered his previous lifestyle as a prisoner into a life thats
beneficial to him. This can be connected with Piphers concept in such a degree that it is seen how Baca
connected writing unto himself. Ultimately, the idea of change writing is substantial to people whether
it is an abrupt or grand change.
In the end, there are still numerous ways to portray Bacas poems. There is no wrong answer for
there is never just one meaning. Only he himself knows the background of his poems. Bacas ability to
use words the way he does represents how writing changed him completely. He went from being a

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prisoner into a famous author. Finally, he effectively writes with secluded content and grim pictures in
both poems to show his transition towards writing.