I Am Offering This Poem

This heartfelt poem is an offering to a beloved. Throughout, Baca compares the poem to elements of survival and comfort. These include “a warm coat” (Line 3), “a pot full of yellow corn” (Line 9), “a cabin or hogan” (Line 18), and “fire […]” (Line 21). Using figurative language, Baca compares poetry with these items to highlight the importance of his craft—not only to his reader but to the world.

As its refrain illustrates, “I Am Offering This Poem” is also a love poem. Baca repeats the phrase “I love you” (Lines 7, 13, 23, 30) four times, each time as a single-line stanza. His choice to set the sentiment on its own line—as well as to repeat it—gives added weight to his affection.

Baca often reads this much-loved poem in public and has shared videos of readings online. In one, he explains that he wrote this poem as a young man who wanted to attract women with his words rather than expensive gifts (Baca, Jimmy Santiago. “Immigrants in our Own Land - I Am Offering This Poem to You.” Facebook Watch, 2017).

The poem is free verse. It is eight stanzas long (30 lines) and possesses no set rhyme scheme or rhythm. However, certain lines contain end rhyme. For example, the word you occurs at the ends of Lines 1, 4, 7, 8, 13, 23, and 30; therefore, all these lines rhyme. Lines 24 and 25 also contain end rhyme with the words “give” and “live,” respectively. The poem has several instances of consonance, assonance, and alliteration. For example, the line “when winter comes to cover you” (Line 4) contains alliteration of W sounds and K sounds (comes and cover).

The speaker’s beloved is not specified by the speaker. The imagery of warm clothes, food, and a place of shelter suggests familial love as well as romantic love. The speaker may be a parent offering love to a child, an adult child offering protection and love to an aging parent, or a lover seeking to persuade his beloved to trust his promises. The universal quality of the poem adds to its poignancy and invites the reader to question the different kinds of love and their value to the speaker. In the context of the poet’s own personal history, the sense of longing inherent in the speaker’s wish to offer love may reflect his own experiences with familial loss and his search for secure and loving relationships in his adult life.

Baca repeats several words and phrases throughout. Repetition creates a musical quality and emphasizes important ideas. Not only does the refrain repeat four times, but he also repeats the phrase “I have nothing else to give” (Line 2) twice, both times with variations.

The poem's final multi-line stanza references the harsh world. This world may forget his beloved, as well as his reader. The speaker urges his beloved to claim the poem, acknowledging his awareness that it may not be claimed, though it is a testament to his love and its ability to help his beloved thrive in the worst of conditions.