Elegies in blue : poems / Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sáenz, Benjamin Alire.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mexican-American Border Region--Poetry.

Mexican-American Border Region.

Mexican Americans--Poetry.

Mexican Americans.

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

120 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

El Paso, Tex. : Cinco Puntos Press, [2002]

Summary:

In the tradition of Latin American literature, Saenz believes that poetry should be part of the public discourse and not shunted aside as irrelevant to our country's larger issues. Here he maps out personal, political and spiritual histories. He speaks about political and literary heroes, anti-heroes and everyday people, and he remembers his growing up Chicano in the Catholic world of the U.S./Mexico Border. From these elements, he creates a philosophy of speaking publicly as poet.

Marketing Plans:

b?" Author tour: El Paso, San Francisco, Southwest.

b?" Galleys available in May.

Novelist, children's writer and poet, Benjamin Alire Saenz is at the forefront of the emerging Latino literatures. He is a Lannan Fellow and a recipient of the American Book Award. A frequent speaker throughout the country, he teaches at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Contents:

I. Learning To Do Philosophy

Oracion: A Man at Prayer 3

The Boy Learns to Ask Important Questions 5

The Rags of Time on Rio Vista Farm 8

The Boy Wants to Know About Names 14

Philosophy: The Woman at the Bar 17

Why Men Quit: An Intellectual Inquiry 20

The Man Meditates on Being Middle Aged 24

II. Now, No One Knows Why You Fought

The Word "Transvestite" Will Not Appear in this Poem 31

Work 37

After Spain: For Edwin Rolfe 40

What Was It All For, Anyway, Cesar, Cesar Chavez? 43

Angel 46

Elegy for Burciaga 48

Photograph: Fidel and Che, 1964 51

The Stranger Goes Home 53

American Camps 57

III. Elegies in Blue

The Blue I Loved 63

The Boy Falls in Love With Beginnings 65

"Denise Levertov, Poet and Political Activist, Dies at 74" 67

The Poet, Having Dreamed that He Died, Writes a Long-Winded Epitaph for Himself in the Third Person 71

At the Graves of the Twentieth Century 73

I. At the Grave of Karl Marx 73

II. At the Grave of J.F.K. 75

III. At the Grave of Pancho Villa 76

IV. At the Grave of David Macias 79

V. At the Grave of Juan Lucero Saenz 80

VI. At the Grave of the Twentieth Century 82

Elegy Written on a Blue Gravestone 86

Ashes in the Wind (the Voices Rise) 88

IV. Notes from the City in Which I Live: Poetry and the Political Imagination 95.

ISBN:

0938317644

OCLC:

48451189