| Author: | Jimmy Santiago Baca | ISBN: | 9780802198549 |
| Publisher: | Grove Atlantic | Publication: | December 1, 2007 |
| Imprint: | Grove Press | Language: | English |
| Author: | Jimmy Santiago Baca |
| ISBN: | 9780802198549 |
| Publisher: | Grove Atlantic |
| Publication: | December 1, 2007 |
| Imprint: | Grove Press |
| Language: | English |
An award-winning work of brilliant passion and epic poetry that vividly captures the impossible truth of an entire romance from beginning to end.
Jimmy Santiago Baca introduces us to a man and woman before they are acquainted and re-creates their first meeting, falling in love, their decision to make a family, the eventual realization of each other’s irreconcilable faults, the resulting conflicts, the breakup and hostility, and, finally, their transcendence of the bitterness and resentment. Throughout the relationship we are privy to the couple’s astonishing range of emotions: the anguish of loneliness, the heady rush of new love, the irritations and joys of raising children, the difficulties in truly knowing someone, the doldrums of breakup, and so on. It is impossible not to identify with these characters and to recognize one’s own experience in theirs. As he weaves this story, Baca explores many of his traditional themes: the beauty and cruelty of the desert lands where he has spent much of his life, the grace and wisdom of animals, the quiet dignity of life on small Chicano farms. An extraordinary work that “expresses both bliss and heartache with lyric intensity” (Booklist) from one of America’s finest poets.
“Baca is a force in American poetry . . . His words heal, inspire, and elicit the earthly response of love.” —Garrett Hongo
“[Baca] writes with unconcealed passion . . . what makes his writing so exciting to me is the way in which it manifests both an intense lyricism and that transformative vision which perceives the mythic and archetypal significance of life-events.” —Denise Levertov
An award-winning work of brilliant passion and epic poetry that vividly captures the impossible truth of an entire romance from beginning to end.
Jimmy Santiago Baca introduces us to a man and woman before they are acquainted and re-creates their first meeting, falling in love, their decision to make a family, the eventual realization of each other’s irreconcilable faults, the resulting conflicts, the breakup and hostility, and, finally, their transcendence of the bitterness and resentment. Throughout the relationship we are privy to the couple’s astonishing range of emotions: the anguish of loneliness, the heady rush of new love, the irritations and joys of raising children, the difficulties in truly knowing someone, the doldrums of breakup, and so on. It is impossible not to identify with these characters and to recognize one’s own experience in theirs. As he weaves this story, Baca explores many of his traditional themes: the beauty and cruelty of the desert lands where he has spent much of his life, the grace and wisdom of animals, the quiet dignity of life on small Chicano farms. An extraordinary work that “expresses both bliss and heartache with lyric intensity” (Booklist) from one of America’s finest poets.
“Baca is a force in American poetry . . . His words heal, inspire, and elicit the earthly response of love.” —Garrett Hongo
“[Baca] writes with unconcealed passion . . . what makes his writing so exciting to me is the way in which it manifests both an intense lyricism and that transformative vision which perceives the mythic and archetypal significance of life-events.” —Denise Levertov
