NO ENEMIES: POEMS
Jimmy Santiago Baca
Arte Público Press
ISBN: 978-1-55885-927-2
Many people shy away from reading poetry, out of fear they won’t understand the imagery and rhythms squeezed into the verses and phrases.
Jimmy Santiago Baca’s poems are both clear and powerful. His new collection, no enemies, takes on most of the key issues that today’s “ordinary” people deal with daily. To name a few: the environment, justice versus injustice, coronavirus, guns, and the people in power who listen to, and react to, virtually no one except their wealthy donors.
But Baca also writes with deep clarity and connection when he reflects on love and the gifts of nature that we too often overlook. And there sometimes is humor or dark humor in his words.
Here is one example of his poetic style:
Set the mind aside like a black hat that has been blown off my head in too many storms, gone off bouncing end over end at the mercy of winds down too many streets, with me chasing after it too many times, a bungling clown in a silent black and white film.
In another of his new book’s poems, he offers wry advice to others who struggle daily to get their words out and seen:
When writing, get that beautiful abyss-- music on one end words on the other a Grand Canyon in between then leap into the great void.
The author of more than 30 books, Baca lives in New Mexico and also is a novelist and essayist. Get No enemies here.
— Si Dunn
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