Singing at the Gates

January 1, 2014
Poetry saved Baca's life, and that's not hyperbole. As he recounts in his introduction to this fiery retrospective collection, he began writing at 18 in a maximum-security prison in Arizona. His gratitude for the balm and uplift of writing is still incandescent, and his belief in the liberating and healing power of words has sustained and propelled him as a writer and activist teacher for four decades. The surge and embrace of his narrative poetry never ceases, nor does his cosmic admiration and love for women, nor his profound camaraderie with other men who have known poverty, prejudice, injustice, and incarceration. Baca's earliest works are torrents of erotic longing and political awakening. He has written about prison riots, substance abuse, fatherhood, and an explosive desert vision of a battle between good and evil. In the long, dancing, mourning, rallying title poem, he celebrates his Chicano hybrid culture. Baca's poems are warm and furious, feathered and drumming, plowed and tattooed, righteous and prayerful. His is a clarion and necessary voice, and this standout volume belongs in every library.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)