I culled poetry from odors, sounds, faces, and ordinary events occurring around me. Breezes bulged me as if I were cloth; sounds… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Air Copy Share Image
“They turn the water off, so I live without water, they build walls higher, so I live without treetops, they paint the… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Life Copy Share Image
Every poem is an infant labored into birth and I am drenched with sweating effort, tired from the pain and hurt of… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Birth Copy Share Image
I do know that if you can name certain things and understand them, it allows you to make better choices. Unfortunately, there's… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Certain Copy Share Image
“It's the process of making-do, of the life I've lived between breakdowns and break-ups, that has made life worth living. I could… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Life Copy Share Image
I can't stand the comfort zone. So many people I know, their parents give them their homes, and they get married and… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Children Copy Share Image
Literacy is freedom, and everyone has something significant to say, — Jimmy Santiago Baca Freedom Copy Share Image
I sat back in my wooden chair as they signed the paperwork and stared down at the arm rests, studying the various… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Arms Copy Share Image
Americans would have a right to go to war with the Iraqis if we could name one author from Iraq. It disturbs… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Absolutely nothing Copy Share Image
We're all self-destructive when we're young. We all rebel. If we don't, there's something wrong. But when a Chicano kid's in a… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Beautiful Copy Share Image
I believe it's our responsibility as citizens to get in there and not accept the constant failure of prisons to deal with… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Accepting Copy Share Image
You've got to invite Native Americans to the table, and Asians, and Chicanos. You cannot keep us in the back room anymore… — Jimmy Santiago Baca America Copy Share Image
“I am a face in a trance, evoking duende. My face imbues breath and stuns you with star-spirit. I am grove-face, story-teller… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Face Copy Share Image
I am learning to look at myself differently, to see the scattered remnants of hope and dreams and collect them again. — Jimmy Santiago Baca Dream Copy Share Image
Being a human being without forgiveness is like being a guitarist without fingers or being the diva without a tongue. — Jimmy Santiago Baca Fingers Copy Share Image
Understanding is the key to everything. To rage, fear, love. If you understand a situation, it's going to make you mad. Or… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Clue Copy Share Image
One thing America truly does stand for is a million different ways of living. But while we enjoy the lives we have,… — Jimmy Santiago Baca America Copy Share Image
“make this day a tree leaning over the river eternity and fuss about in its branches.” — Jimmy Santiago Baca Life Copy Share Image
And so I pray I am today as honest with myself, with life all around me and below and above me, with… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Encounters Copy Share Image
The whole thing is this: If you don't use just basic grammar, if you don't get the language down, you're not going… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Access Copy Share Image
I emerged from the black oil pools in the forgotten house of dreams in the wild backcountry of the heart. I am… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Black Copy Share Image
People say what distinguishes us from the animals is that we think. Well, then why the hell don't we extend some compassion… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Addiction Copy Share Image
How much truth can we bear? Our tolerance for carrying the truth is not very high. I mean, the slightest discomfort about… — Jimmy Santiago Baca Bears Copy Share Image
