Reviews for Spring Poems Along the Rio Grande

The average rating for Spring Poems Along the Rio Grande based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-05-05 00:00:00 David Choi The second of Jimmy Santiago Baca's Rio Grande books--I'm assuming there'll be future volumes on summer and autumn--this volume is less anguished than Winter Poems Along the Rio Grande, more celebration than wrestling with the demons that get between human beings and the world we live in. As a result, some of the poems veer towards the gnomic--Santiago Baca certainly isn't afraid of direct statement: "What is broken is blessed." What makes the poems vibrate for me is the way Santiago Baca links those moments to the specific experience of the Rio Grande bisque, often tied to running, which for him is essentially a form of prayer. Santiago Baca is a poetic cousin, younger brother to Gary Snyder, sharing Snyder's belief that the key to understanding your world--which is a mode of connection, not control--is to know your watershed. This volume isn't the one I'd recommend to new readers of Santiago Baca--I'd still start with the volume containing Martin and Meditations on the Valley--but I'm thankful he's still running and writing.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-10-23 00:00:00 James Arrington El Finally, "slam poetry" that isn't facile gibberish.