Excerpt from

Green Chile



I prefer red chile over my eggs
and potatoes for breakfast.
Red chile ristras decorate my door, 
dry on my roof, and hang from eaves.
They lend open-air vegetable stands
historical grandeur, and gently swing
with an air of festive welcome.




Jimmy Santiago Baca's homepage

From an interview in The Progressive :
Q: What influences you the most regarding your poetry?
Baca: Just the extraordinary sweetness of people, or the rage, or the hatred. I can't stand the comfort zone. So many people I know, their parents give them their homes, and they get married and have children, or whatever. That's it. They don't ever go beyond that. That's not what life is, you know?