For this assignment I chose the poems “Immigrants in Our Own Land” by Jimmy Santiago Baca and “Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting” by Kevin C. Powers. The reason I chose “Immigrants in Our Own Land” is because I have seen so many of my friends and people I grew up with enter the prison system and struggle to stay out and clean. In this poem the speaker talks about his experiences in prison and his hopes for change, “Our expectations are high: in the old world, / they talked about rehabilitation, / about being able to finish school, / and learning an extra good trade.” (Baca lines 20-23) It is an escape from what he doesn’t want anymore. So many times I have heard this story from people I know when they enter the system. They are going to get their GED inside and learn a skill and everything will be better when they make it out. It rarely works out this way, I have seen many of my friends go in and out of the prison system multiple times and in extreme cases I have seen them come out as someone I don’t even know or recognize. The experience destroys the person that I knew and loved. I pray for my friends that all of them make it out and stay out. I am tired of seeing strangers, shells of the people I once knew. This is why this poem really struck a cord with me. 
The other poem that I have considered is “Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting.” This one hit home for me because I have many loved ones who have been to Iraq and Afghanistan and have some who are still fighting. This poem sounds like letters I have received. These friends talk about what they miss and it is always the littlest things that they miss the most. The speaker is talking to the woman he loves; he compares this love to the love of things that someone who is not in war would take for granted. “I tell her I love her like not killing / or ten minutes of sleep / beneath the low rooftop wall / on which my rifle rests. (Powers lines 1-4) These things are huge for him, when I would send care packages the things that my friends would ask for were the most mundane little things. I would always think, really? That is what you want me to send you? I really think that this poem is talking about how pointless things like war are once you realize the importance of the things that you take for granted the most.
Works Cited
Baca, Jimmy Santiago “Immigrants in Our Own Land” Poetryfoundation.org. Poetry Foundation, 2011. Web. 22 June 2011.
Powers, Kevin C. “ Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting” Poetryfoundation.org. Poetry Foundation, 2011. Web. 22 June 2011.
I agree with your ideas on "Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting", the little things really are the most important while deployed to combat. I remember the thing I wanted the most while in Iraq was just to receive a simple picture or even a letter with the scent of my wife's perfume on it. Girl Scout Samoas cookies were a close second. It it the things and people we take for granted every day that become the most important to us when they are taken away. I think this idea holds true for those entering the prison system as well. Thanks for the fresh ideas.
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