In the poem "Cloudy Days", what purpose does the flashback serve?

"Cloudy Day" by Jimmy Santiago Baca is to show how there can always be sunshine on a cloudy day. Meaning that no matter how bad things are, it could possibly b worse, so we should always be optimistic.

The purpose of the flashback is to show how the speaker has changed from the start of his prison time to the end.

As shown in this excerpt from the story, " ... the wind in my face gave me the feeling I could grasp the tower like a cornstalk ... " (Lines 15 & 16) This quote shows that even though he was in the prison he still felt powerful.