Response to Two Poems

     The poems I chose for this assignment are: “Immigrants in Our Own Land”, by Jimmy Santiago Baca born of Chicano and Apache descent, (1952-) and “Compendium of Lost Objects”, by Nicole Cooley from New Orleans, Louisiana. All of the poems under the “Poetry of Witness” tab were filled with suffering, and as I stated in one of my comment postings, I hope that is not always the case. Can't “Poetry of Witness” sometimes be witnessing about nice things or events as well? I hope so.

Jimmy Santiago Baca

Nicole Cooley

(Above Image Sources: Poetry Foundation.org, and Poets.org from black board - See all image links below.)

Jail

Native American Teepee

      “Immigrants in Our Own Land” was a more lengthy and detailed poem than many of the others. I was intrigued by the fact that it somewhat puzzled me, giving the illusion at the beginning that it was about Native Americans being removed from their lands, but then revealing that it was most likely about the author who is of Chicano and Apache descent who lived in the ghetto, and served prison time. “We are born with dreams in our hearts, looking for better days ahead.” (Baca lines 1-2), “ We are given shots and doctors ask questions. Then we gather in another room where counselors orient us to the new land we will now live in.” (Baca lines 6-9), and “Our expectations are high: in the old world, they talked about rehabilitation, about being able to finish school, and learning an extra good trade. But right away we are sent to work as dishwashers, to work in fields for three cents an hour. The administration says this is temporary...” (Baca lines 20-26). The title combined with the poem seems to be a comparison of his peoples miseries of the past, the continued misery of many of their lives in the ghetto, and how many of them are now prisoners with seemingly hopeless futures. The poem could also be a comparison of the ghetto life verses prison life, as the two “lands” are very similar, “... blacks with blacks, poor whites with poor whites, chicanos and indians by themselves. The administration says this is right, no mixing of cultures, let them stay apart, like in the old neighborhoods we came from.” (Baca lines 27-32 – left un-capitalized as written). The parts of the poem that reminded me of what true history has to say about the past and current treatment of Native Americans re-kindled my anger towards ignorant and bigoted behaviors. Even though I was saddened and angered by the abuses already, I learned much more than I bargained for when I home schooled my son, and took various field trips – especially to Fort Verde. 

Flood waters and sandbags.

      “Compendium of Lost Objects” is a poem about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It struck a chord with me as I used to live in California's Sacramento Valley area, and had to live under the shadow of the levees that the farmers built there. Fears of these levees failing where always in the back of my mind, especially when driving on the road that ran right along the bottom edge of the levee built to hold back Folsom Lake. It towers high above the level of the road – looming like a horrifying giant struggling to hold back it's load from crushing you, or sweeping you away. I never have had all that much faith in man's ability to control nature. The levees in the Sacramento Valley area are an especially dangerous threat because they were originally built by farmers to hold back flood waters from the farm lands. “Sacramento and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta's risk for flooding is the highest in the country because of the city's aging levee system that has been inadequately maintained. The River City has even less protection than that of New Orleans despite spending $300 million to strengthen the Sacramento and American rivers levees that has taken place for the past 20 years. “ (Source: http://sacramento.about.com/od/localgovcivics/a/leveeflood.htm). These levees were never intended to protect the huge amount of subdivisional housing that taken over farm lands.  The poems gives you a glance at water's horrible destructive powers, and made me visualize how it could look if it happened where I used to live, “and lace valances from a Lakeview kitchen where water, rose six feet high inside, and a refrigerator wrapped in duct tape lying, in the dirt of a once-yard...” (Cooley lines 15-18). 
Click here to watch a ABC News Katrina/Sacramento levee comparison news video. 

Works Cited

Baca, Jimmy Santiago. “Immigrants in Our Own Land” Poetryfoundation.org/poem/179708.

Poetry Foundation, 2011. Web. 22 June 2011.

Cooley, Nicole. “Compendium of Lost Objects” Poets.org Academy of American Poets © 1997-2011

Web 26 June 2011.

Image links for author photos:   
Jimmy Santiago Baca:  https://lbblackboard.yc.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_38149_1%26url%3D

Nicole Cooley:   https://lbblackboard.yc.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_38149_1%26url%3D

Other Image links:

Image Source: Teepee - http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/search.php?search=native+american&cat=
Image Source: Jail -http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Emergency_Services_a_g211-Jail_p17567.html

Image Source:  Flood -  http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/search.php?search=flood&cat= 

Image Source: Sacramento levee break - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Sacramento_River_broken_levee.jpg

Katrina/Sacramento News Video Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/state&id=7635888