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Author: BACA, JIMMY SANTIAGO
Matches Found: 179


Baca, Jimmy Santiago    Poet's Biography
179 poems available by this author


43       
First Line: 6:00 a.M. %awake and leave to fish
Last Line: The new invasion
Variant Title(s): Invasion


A SONG OF SURVIVAL    Poem Text    
First Line: I worked as a licensed plumber, had my own tools
Last Line: And the seasrch led me to my first cell in prison
Subject(s): Plumbers; Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


ACCOUNTABILITY       
First Line: Who we are and what we do


AGAINST       
First Line: I saw the moon at first one blue twilight
Last Line: As all that I have, winds, mountains, you are free


AH RAIN!    Poem Text    
First Line: Sweet scented, dripping from eaves and darkening
Last Line: My religion is rain, my anger, hate, love is rain
Subject(s): Politics & Government; Rain


AH RAIN!       
First Line: Sweet scented, dripping from eaves and darkening
Last Line: I drench my body, shimmer, clothes wet, %my religion is rain, my anger, hate, love is rain
Subject(s): Politics; Rain


ANCESTOR    Poem Text    
First Line: It was a time when they were afraid of him
Last Line: Out of the long felt nights and days of yesterday
Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


ANCESTOR       
First Line: It was a time when they were afraid of him
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners


AS CHILDREN KNOW    Poem Text    
First Line: Elm branches radiate green heat
Subject(s): Children; Childhood


AS CHILDREN KNOW    Poem Text    
First Line: Elm branches radiate green heat
Subject(s): Children; Disappointment; Childhood


AS CHILDREN KNOW       
First Line: Elm branches radiate green heat


AT NIGHT       
First Line: I lie in bed


BEDTIME STORY TO THE BOYS       
First Line: I lie in bed and they run after me


BELLS       
First Line: Bells. The word gongs my skull bone


BETTER LIFE       
First Line: My life is a lover's breathing


BIRTHING WORK       
First Line: Adobe brick


BLACK MESA       
First Line: The northern most u-tip


BODY       
First Line: Feeling the bars
Last Line: Will be blind in our world


BY INVITATION OF MY SOUL       
First Line: I have been struggling to do as I could in my
Last Line: And feed it to my pet cockroaches in my cell


CHILD OF THE SUN-GABRIEL'S BIRTH (SUN PRAYER)       
First Line: Beatrice on the bed, muscles twitch pain


CHOICES       
First Line: An acquaintance at los angeles labs


CLOUDY DAY    Poem Text     Recitation by Author
First Line: It is windy today. A wall of wind crashes against
Subject(s): Disappointment; Crime & Criminals


CLOUDY DAY       
First Line: It is windy today. A wall of wind crashes against
Last Line: I feel as if I have everything, everything


CONFUSED AND AMAZED AGAIN       
First Line: The rat-tat-tat of hammers
Last Line: To breathe out the next dawn


COUNT-TIME       
First Line: Everybody to sleep the guard symbolizes
Last Line: Under dreamlike waterfalls, %in the silence


COUNTY JAIL       
First Line: Men late at night cook coffee in rusty cans
Last Line: Will get up and leave the circle, %return to his bunk
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners


CRYING POEM    Poem Text    
First Line: For the longest time


CUSTOM       
First Line: Juan umphs cinch comfortably taut


DAILY JOY TO BE ALIVE       
First Line: No matter how serene


DAY BRUSHES ITS CURTAINS ASIDE       
First Line: To a dark stage
Last Line: As it went deeper and deeper into my heart


DAY'S BLOOD       
First Line: I toss yesterday's tortillas


DESIRE       
First Line: Out of the barbwire, the walls, the timeless days
Last Line: Into all that I was not


DRAWING LIGHT       
First Line: Ill-tempered loafer


DREAM COME EARLY       
First Line: Odds %were astronomical


DREAM INSTRUCTIONS       
First Line: While in bed, dreams came


DREAMING ABOUT FREEDOM       
First Line: What I would be doing if I were out
Last Line: Beautiful thoughts and feelings, like wild birds %so easily scared away by the sound of closing cage


DUST-BOWL MEMORY       
First Line: My ancient neighbor, mr. Abaskin


EL GATO    Poem Text    
First Line: At eight
Subject(s): Chicanos; Mexican Americans


EL SAPO       
First Line: Around the bend on black mesa loop


ESE CHICANO       
First Line: Behind bars you stand


FALL       
First Line: Somber hue diffused on everything


FAMILY TIES       
First Line: Mountain barbecue


FIELD OF CLOVER       
First Line: Evelyn dreamed


FROM VIOLENCE TO PEACE    Poem Text    
First Line: Twenty-eight shotgun pellets
Subject(s): Crime & Criminals; Grief; Death; Chicanos; Sorrow; Sadness; Dead, The; Mexican Americans


FROM VIOLENCE TO PEACE       
First Line: Twenty-eight shotgun pellets


GOD LOOSENED       
First Line: I walk along the acequia


GOD'S COMING       
First Line: I await the burning books


GOOD DAY       
First Line: Saturday %freckled leaves after rain


GREEN CHILE       
First Line: I prefer red chile over my eggs
Last Line: We relive this old, beautiful ritual again and again


GREGORIO CORTEZ       
First Line: I wept when the sheriff escorted you on the train


HANDSOME WORLD       
First Line: The handsome, broad-shouldered world, with
Last Line: From now on, I scream and howl and love and laugh, I am me


HEALING EARTHQUAKES (1)       
First Line: (8 years old)
Last Line: With the limb-top buoyancy %of my awakening in the storm


HEALING EARTHQUAKES (2)       
First Line: Through little garden plots I was mesmerized by
Last Line: A man awaking to the day with ground to stand upon


HITCHHIKER    Poem Text    
First Line: Driving home tonight
Last Line: With the chalky pumice of his heart
Subject(s): Loss


HITCHHIKER       
First Line: Driving home tonight
Subject(s): Loss


HOW WE CARRY OURSELVES    Poem Text    
First Line: I am the broken reed in this deathly organ
Last Line: Turning yourself on.
Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


HOW WE CARRY OURSELVES       
First Line: I am the broken reed in this deathly organ
Last Line: But you are breathing, smiling, struggling, %turning yourself on
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners


I AM HERE       
First Line: I stopped my car on gibson avenue
Last Line: I am here


I AM OFFERING THIS POEM    Poem Text    
First Line: I am offering this poem to you
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Love


I AM OFFERING THIS POEM       
First Line: I am offering this poem to you
Last Line: Remember, %-- I love you


I AM SURE OF IT    Poem Text    
First Line: Just after supper sheets were passed out
Last Line: Close or far away, it doesn't matter, I am sure of it
Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


I AM SURE OF IT       
First Line: Just after supper sheets were passed out
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners


I AM WHO I AM       
First Line: You ask me what has happened to the woman I love
Last Line: In this way finding out who we are


I AM WITH THOSE       
First Line: Whose blood has spilled on streets too often
Last Line: Most powerful and full of extreme beauty and body


I APPLIED FOR THE BOARD    Poem Text    
First Line: A flight of fancy and breath of fresh air
Last Line: And partly fvom the joy that it was over
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Politics & Government


I APPLIED FOR THE BOARD       
First Line: A flight of fancy and breath of fresh air
Last Line: Gush forth in my breast, partly from the wound, %and partly from the joy that it was over
Subject(s): Poetry And Poets; Politics


I ASK MYSELF, SHOULD I CRY? OR LAUGH       
First Line: I am like a glossy green leaf, sticking out
Last Line: This poem is for you, my one


I PASS LA IGLESIA       


I WILL REMAIN       
First Line: I don't want to leave any more or get transferred
Last Line: Of the dying, of the young so old old, of the broken ones


IMMIGRANTS IN OUR OWN LAND    Poem Text    
First Line: We are born with dreams in our hearts
Last Line: So long gone from life itself, so many things have changed
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Social Problems; United States - Race Relations


IMMIGRANTS IN OUR OWN LAND       
First Line: We are born with dreams in our hearts
Last Line: So long gone from life itself, so many things have changed
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; Social Problems; U.s. - Race Relations


IN MY LAND       
First Line: Time gets lost. You see it
Last Line: Of love, to live


IN THE DESERT       
First Line: In the desert there is a rain
Last Line: Among the bones %in the desert


INFLUENCES       
First Line: I have missed so much of life


INTO DEATH BRAVELY    Poem Text    
First Line: Winter/throws his great white shield
Subject(s): Winter; Death; Dead, The


INTO DEATH BRAVELY       
First Line: Winter %throws his great white shield


IT GOES BY MANY NAMES       
First Line: And behind the eyeball it sucks it empty
Last Line: Where now we imprison our brothers and sisters


IT STARTED    Poem Text    
First Line: A little state-funded barrack
Last Line: Of our meeting, our friendship
Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


IT STARTED       
First Line: A little state-funded barrack
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners


IT WOULD BE NEAT IF WITH THE NEW YEAR    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Solitude


IT'S GOING TO BE A COLD WINTER       
First Line: A batch of new guards, trained to sniff out
Last Line: Escaped tigers bursting from my cage, to tell me, okay


JAGUAR HEAD       
First Line: Healed enough months later


JEWELRY STORE       
First Line: After work, when supper lights and slippers
Last Line: Drowns me in its love. I walk down the street


JOE       
First Line: They just brought us breakfast. My celly wakes up
Last Line: And stand at your side if ever you need me


KNOWING THE SNOW ANOTHER WAY       
First Line: Last snowfall of winter


KNOWING WHEN       
First Line: Sun buries its face


LEAPS       
First Line: Carrots, rice and lamb ribs


LIKE AN ANIMAL    Poem Text    
First Line: Behind the smooth texture
Last Line: Behind these prison walls
Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


LIKE AN ANIMAL       
First Line: Behind the smooth texture
Last Line: Of me, the real me, %behind these prison walls
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners


LISTENING TO JAZZ NOW    Poem Text    
First Line: Listening to jazz now, I'm happy
Subject(s): Jazz


LLANO VAQUEROS    Poem Text    
First Line: Padilla unloads mangy herd of mexican
Subject(s): Cowboys; Ancestors & Ancestry; Heritage; Heredity


LLANO VAQUEROS       
First Line: Padilla unloads mangy herd of mexican cattle


LOVE POEM: 1       
First Line: We threw the wounded fragments
Last Line: Finally giving up all hope, %I saw us. %the hail shredded the flower


LOVE POEM: 2       
First Line: But the first year
Last Line: Hail shreds the flower %and brings the horses to their knees


LOVE POEM: 3       
First Line: And after days of hate
Last Line: I extract it, clean and easy, %and have learned


LOVE POEM: 4       
First Line: Man rage is the unpicked fruit rotting on the branch
Last Line: Man rage is breakdown and death if we cannot express it


LOVE POEM: 5       
First Line: We men are returning home
Last Line: In our male song, ahoa, grandfather! %ahoa!


MAIN CHARACTER    Poem Text    
First Line: I want to see
Subject(s): Motion Pictures; West (u.s.); Movies; Cinema; Southwest; Pacific States


MAIN CHARACTER       
First Line: I went to see %'how the west was won'
Last Line: Looking for the main character


MARTIN       
First Line: Pinos wells


MATANZA TO WELCOME SPRING    Poem Text    
First Line: Spread eagle sheep legs wide
Subject(s): Spring; Sheep; Death; Birth; Dead, The; Child Birth; Midwifery


MATANZA TO WELCOME SPRING       
First Line: Spread eagle sheep legs wide
Last Line: Thumba thumba thumba %ba -- ba -- ba %of living


MEDITATIONS ON THE SOUTH VALLEY       
First Line: Disbelief %numbed me


MEDITATIONS ON THE SOUTH VALLEY, PART XXIII    Poem Text    
First Line: Pancho, the barrio idiot
Subject(s): Fantasy; Mental Retardation; Barrios


MI TIO BACA EL POETA DE SOCORRO       
First Line: Antonio ce de baca %chiseled on stone chunk gravemarker
Last Line: Wishing, like you, I could believe them


NEW WARDEN       
First Line: He sat in the cool morning
Last Line: One old convict ended up marrying the governor's mother
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners


NEWS       
First Line: Just drove back from town


OLD MAN       
First Line: My heart was once an elementary


OLD WOMAN       
First Line: I see senora sanchez


ON A SEPTEMBER DAY       
First Line: I stand listening to a young man
Last Line: Trying to run the ache out of my heart


ON BLOOD AND BONE       
First Line: Antonio awakens, waddles


OPPRESSION    Poem Text    
First Line: Is a question of strength
Subject(s): Racism; Racial Prejudice; Bigotry


OPPRESSION       
First Line: Is a question of strength
Last Line: Endure my brothers, endure my sisters


OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN       
First Line: Distant to friends


PAINTERS       
First Line: The painters paint over my shoes
Last Line: My exile, from the painters
Subject(s): Assimilation


PERFECTO FLORES       
First Line: We banter %back and forth


PERSONAL PRAYERS       
First Line: On a red wagon


PICKING PINONS       
First Line: On my knees


POEM 23, SELS.       
First Line: Panco, the barrio idiot
Last Line: You always fill my heart pancho %with delight


POEM 6, SELS.       
First Line: Cruising back from 7-11
Last Line: With everything perfect


PRAISE       
First Line: From isleta pueblo church


ROOTS       
First Line: Ten feet beyond the back door


RUDE    Poem Text    
First Line: Life is so rude to me. Leaves my head
Last Line: Telling you the truth of what you long tried to hide
Subject(s): Life


RUDE       
First Line: Life is so rude to me. Leaves my head
Last Line: Telling you the truth of what you long tried to hide
Subject(s): Life


SANCTUARY    Poem Text    
First Line: I could not disengage my world
Subject(s): Survival; Chicanos; Mexican Americans


SANCTUARY       
First Line: I could not dissengage my world


SEPTEMBER       
First Line: I browse the chill fields and notice again


SINCE YOU'VE COME       
First Line: You make %a thousand expressions of distaste


SLEEPING CONVICTS IN THE CELLBLOCK    Poem Text    
First Line: They dream the sun rising abaove carved cliffs
Last Line: As it swoops out a broken window
Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


SLEEPING CONVICTS IN THE CELLBLOCK       
First Line: They dream the sun rising abaove carved cliffs
Last Line: As it swoops out a broken window
Subject(s): Prisons And Prisoners


SMALL FARMER       
First Line: Yessum, I'm a farmer
Subject(s): Farm Life


SMALL MAN       
First Line: This morning I visited de leon
Last Line: And I with so many questions


SMOKING MIRRORS       
First Line: I come out of the south, %from the darkness
Last Line: We imagine the story %with a kinder ending


SO MEXICANS ARE TAKING JOBS FROM AMERICANS    Poem Text    
First Line: O yes? Do they come on horses
Last Line: And the children too
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; United States - Race Relations


SO MEXICANS ARE TAKING JOBS FROM AMERICANS       
First Line: O yes? Do they come on horses
Last Line: What they really say is, let them die, %and the children too
Subject(s): Ethnic Groups - United States; Minorities - United States; U.s. - Race Relations


SONG OF SURVIVAL       
First Line: I worked as a licensed plumber, had my own tools
Last Line: Speak, when I move boulders from the path I wish to take
Subject(s): Plumbers; Prisons And Prisoners


SPRING       
First Line: With one mighty tug and push, conservancy engineers


STEEL DOORS OF PRISON    Poem Text    
First Line: The big compound gates close the world off
Last Line: Slowly swallowing you
Subject(s): Politics & Government; Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


STEEL DOORS OF PRISON       
First Line: The big compound gates close the world off
Last Line: You hear nothing but the steel jaws close, %slowly swallowing you
Subject(s): Politics; Prisons And Prisoners


STONY, FIFTEEN YEARS IN THE JOINT       
First Line: Fifteen years in the joint
Last Line: That is just part of the rules


SUMMER       
First Line: In the morning I throw water over my face
Last Line: Take our shirts off, and set our feet squarely in the dirt


SUN ON THOSE       
First Line: The sun on those green palm trees, lining
Last Line: Know, as the tree knows, where I come from, who is my father


SUN PRAYER, FR. CHILD OF THE SUN - GABRIEL'S BIRTH       
First Line: She gives a half-choked sob
Last Line: Its dark eyes squinch-lidded %unwrinkle wide in haunting ferocity


SWEET REVENGE       
First Line: Kirtland airforce jets


THE COUNTY JAIL    Poem Text    
First Line: Men late at night cook coffee in rusty cans
Last Line: Return to his bunk
Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


THE NEW WARDEN    Poem Text    
First Line: He sat in the cool morning
Last Line: One old convict ended up marrying the governor’s mother
Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


THE PAINTERS    Poem Text    
First Line: The painters paint over my shoes
Last Line: My exile, from the painters
Subject(s): Assimilation


THE SHOP    Poem Text    
First Line: I went down yesterday
Subject(s): Chicanos; Mexican Americans


THERE ARE BLACK    Poem Text    
First Line: There are black guards slamming cell gates on black men
Subject(s): Prisons & Prisoners; Race Awareness; Convicts


THERE ARE BLACK       
First Line: There are black guards slamming cell gates on black men
Last Line: You are looking at them


THERE'S ME       
First Line: There's me & thelma & louie & lisa
Last Line: We'll make it, look out for each other


THIS DAY    Poem Text    
First Line: I feel foolish
Subject(s): Life


THROUGH THE STREETS       
First Line: Friday night whistles at young ladies, and
Last Line: Horses feed in the fields. And already we are thinking


TO COME LIVE WITH ME       
First Line: Was my wish. How funny that I didn't think
Last Line: Where one remembers the lust of youth as love so warm


TO MINE OWN SELF    Poem Text    
First Line: My hands the hook thunder hangs its hat on
Subject(s): Self


TO MY OWN SELF    Poem Text    
First Line: My hands the -- hook thunder hangs its hat on
Last Line: My soul song of all life
Subject(s): Self


TO MY OWN SELF       
First Line: My hands the -- hook thunder hangs its hat on
Last Line: My soul the -- song of all life
Subject(s): Self


TOMAS LUCERO       
First Line: I wept when the police escorted you to the train


TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING    Poem Text    
Subject(s): Weather; Farm Life; Agriculture; Farmers


TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING       
First Line: Snow's been melting too soon


TOWARD THE LIGHT       
First Line: Few inches beneath


UNITY OF HEARTS       
First Line: Fan blades, propellers beating
Last Line: In rusty old trucks and cars


V    Poem Text    
First Line: Years pass
Subject(s): Chicanos; Mexican Americans


VOZ DE LA GENTE       
First Line: I went to river last night
Last Line: Until I play the drum


WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN AND WHAT IS       
First Line: Beatrice nurses gabriel


WHAT IS BROKEN IS WHAT GOD BLESSES    Poem Text    
First Line: The lover's footprint in the sand
Subject(s): Resilience


WHAT WE DON'T TELL THE CHILDREN       
First Line: Feathers in the yard this morning


WHAT'S HAPPENING    Poem Text    
First Line: At this moment, fires of a riot are everywhere
Last Line: Viva la huelga!
Subject(s): Politics & Government; Prisons & Prisoners; Convicts


WHAT'S HAPPENING       
First Line: At this moment, fires of a riot are everywhere
Last Line: And I weep! My eyes burn! My lungs are black with smoke!
Subject(s): Politics; Prisons And Prisoners


WHAT'S REAL AND WHAT'S NOT       
First Line: Bob greases himself up


WHEN LIFE    Poem Text    
First Line: Is cut close, blades and bones
Subject(s): Stoicism


WHEN LIFE       
First Line: Is cut close, blades and bones
Last Line: And a quiet half-dead dream


WHO UNDERSTANDS ME BUT ME    Poem Text    
First Line: They turn the water off, so I live without water
Last Line: Who understands me when I say this is beautiful?
Subject(s): Politics & Government


WHO UNDERSTANDS ME BUT ME       
First Line: They turn the water off, so I live without water
Last Line: Who understands me when I say this is beautiful?
Subject(s): Politics


WIND       
First Line: Morning darkened by a light night train


WISHES    Poem Text    
First Line: As spring ends today, this morning
Last Line: As they run out the screen door to play
Subject(s): Wishes


WISHES       
First Line: As spring ends today, this morning
Subject(s): Wishes


WORK WE HATE AND DREAMS WE LOVE       
First Line: Every morning


YESTERDAY    Poem Text    
First Line: Yesterday, the sunshine made the air glow
Subject(s): Love; Poetry & Poets