Crying Poem Response Paper

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Response Paper In Jimmy Santiago Baca’s “Crying Poem”, he describes how he wasn’t allowed to cry when he was little because it showed weakness. However, as much as Baca was not allowed to cry he wanted to. He explains how his father used to get mad at him when he felt like crying when he says, “my dad yelled me not to cry, I was terrified, almost killed – but don’t cry, he said”. Jimmy was scared to cry because he would get another beating from his father just like the one he got when he was eight years old. Baca mentions how he felt about not being able to cry when he says, “I want to untie my hands like a tired boxers gloves and lay them down on the table, gripped in their tight clench of defense, and I want to grow new hands open flowers, moistened by my tears”. His dad wasn’t the only one telling him not to cry. Jimmy describes how men were also telling him not to cry when he mentions “My heart an open furnace oven door, rage seething for tears to cool it down, but coal hoveling men keep feeding it don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry”. Also, not being able to cry mad Baca feel worse about himself. He describes how he got tired of not crying and just wanted to say something to his father when he says “Fooling no one but myself not crying step aside – im going to cry until my shirt is drenched, and my hands shimmery wet with tears, running down my face on my arms, my legs and breast, and you have to look at me, because I’m drowning your manly ways in my tears, to get back my tears”. Jimmy was mad at his father for not letting him cry. He felt his heart was full with tears ready to be let out. In addition, not crying had turned into lifestyle for Jimmy. He mentions “I kept hearing voices in me/telling me not to cry, don’t cry, don’t cry/Boys don’t cry”. He would only be hurting himself if he cries. Baca describes how hard it was to hold back his tears, how he

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