Jimmy Santiago Bacca , American poet.

Was abandoned by his parents at the age of two.

And left at an orphanage by is grandmother soon after.

He ran away from this orphanage at the age of 13 and started living in the streets. He was convicted at
21 years old, for illegal drug possession and was sentenced to five years of maximum security prison.
Being a Mexican immigrant, he was not given even the basic facilities like water, breaks in the prison
yard, or showers like other American prisoners, for a very long time.

He taught himself to read and write in the prison. There he discovered poetry and fell in love with. He
started composing his own poems. A fellow inmate convinced him to send on of his poems to a
magazine. He got published....and that turned his like over. Now he is an award winning poet and
novelist. He also founded a non-profit organization call the Cedar Tree which works on improving
people's lives through education.

This poem of his is very personal as he talks about his time in prison and very metaphorically talks about
how he found freedom through his poetry after teaching himself to read and write.