This paper is based on a study about the life history of a young offender who committed suicide in 2006, and whose memory was brought alive by interviews, poems and letters he had written. A theoretical analysis is developed in regards to perusal of the adolescent poems written from the period he was convicted in Salvador, Bahia, until his death a few months after his release. Departing from his poetic production, the paper aims at understanding aspects identified in the poems, such as: poetry, identity, love, criminal act and otherness. His poems show the importance of love as a theme, and the youngster's disillusion with his personal trajectory, and his relation to society. The study concludes pointing out two issues: the mutual and complex responsibility of the adolescent, as well as society's role marked by stigma and intolerance towards his offenses, and the need of further research to comprehend the life histories of individuals submitted to exclusionary practices.