Jimmy Santiago Baca

I stumbled across one of Jimmy Santiago Baca's poems during my freshman year of college. I'm not sure if the poem came to me because of an English teacher, a certain textbook, or just happenstance, but it surprised me, it engaged me. Suddenly, I began to understand poetry, the use of words and rythym and the juxtapositions that make up modern poetry. It impressed me, this simple poem.
The poem was Green Chile, and it's sensual description of Baca's grandmother making green chile con carne is just incredible.

From the poem:

A well-dressed gentleman at the door
my grandmother takes sensuously in her hand,
rubbing its firm glossed sides,
caressing the oily rubbery serpent,
with mouth -watering fulfillment,
fondling its curves with gentle fingers.
Its bearing magnificent and taut
as flanks of a tiger in mid-leap,
she thrusts her blade into
and cuts it open, with lust
on her hot mouth, sweating over the stove,
bandanna round her forehead,
mysterious passion on her face
as she serves me green chile con carne
between soft warm leaves of corn tortillas,
with beans and rice–her sacrifice
to her little prince.

Tonight, I had an opportunity to hear Mr. Baca read his poems at the last reading of the University of Arizona's Poetry Center, and he continues to be a fantastic poet and writer, grounded in the dark reality of modern life and yet able to describe the ineffable as well.

The Poetry Center is a fantastic place for anyone interested in literature and poetry. Their collection is impressive and their project to record poets for future students is a worthy task. I've had the opportunity to volunteer and helped the center build a small video-editing system.