A different story, a different way to tell a story. Baca invites us into a world not as polished as Watkins or Liza Lu, nor as academic as Valoma on Parker. His world is filled with sounds and smells and realities from desperate lives, forgotten lives, lives that survive.
I have no questions for you. Read. Let me know what you think and then I will respond. You may find yourself sad or shocked, moved or reminded of an event from your life...it is all OK. Some of the language is rough but it is honest and real.
As you adjust to the rhythm of the writing remember if you too are a person of words your final creative project can be words.
Healing earthquakes is a little different from all the books I've read so far, I've never read a poem book so it will definitely be something different. During the first book Baca talks about the chicano culture, which is a culture I am familiarized with. When I was reading most of the poems, so many memories came to my head. I believe Baca's work deals with people and their everyday routine, he creates this poems based on things people do, that most of the people do not notice.
ReplyDeleteWhen he talks about "el barrio" I think he gives a very realistic picture of how it is. La Virgen is a main key to el barrio and to Mexicans. He described that scene with her surrounded by candles and that is so true, she is always surrounded by candles that people will take her because they want to thank her or ask her for something. When reading about this old men and how he kneels in front of her praying for a miracle just reminded me of my culture. In Mexico city there is The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and in December 12 (feast day) it gets full of people walking in the street on their knees for miles to honor her, so this is just so you get an idea of how big La Virgen is for us. It is a beautiful thing.
There was one poem in which he mentions how his grandfather suffered racism for not speaking English and to be honest it broke my heart. "I saw my grandpa's eye go dark with wound-hurts, regret, remorse that his grandchild would witness him humiliated". My grandfather came to the US for a better opportunity and he would tell us stories about how hard it was back then, I mean if today is hard I cannot imagine back then. So reading about this just reminds me of my own grandfather and the things he had to go through in order for us to have something better. I totally agree with Baca on how racism has a huge impact on people, that can kill their dreams.
There were two other poems that were hard to read because of how he expresses things the way they are. Like when he told this small "stories" like a woman that comes back home and sees her room the way she left it, but his dad had a stroke and he is staring at the fire, or the mom that will get a letter that says her son is dead. Just like you mentioned it is rough but it is honest and that made me think that we should appreciate and be grateful with what we have today because we never know what will happen tomorrow. By reading the first book I get this sense of Baca wanting people to enjoy life as it is, without being judgmental or getting distracted with things that are not worth it (he mentions night life as a distraction but I am sure there are many more). To enjoy what the world and nature has to offer and that even when we accomplish success we will always have the memories we started with.
Thank you. I hoped all the books would evoke an emotion, a memory, a forgotten dream. I believe identity is personal and it is public. As an artist I want to create my reality, I want to share my world. Baca is one of my favorites for making as you so beautifully said the everyday come to life.
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