Benjamin a lire saenz poetry in spanish
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Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! I hope you’re spending some of your time from Sept. 15-Oct.15 curled up with a good YA book by a Latino/a author. If you need book suggestions, you may also want to check out Latina Book Club, Vamos a Leer, and The Hispanic Reader.
Today’s YA author in the spotlight is: Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Enjoy!
AUTHOR: (information comes directly from Cinco Puntos Press and University of Texas at El Paso)
Benjamin Alire Sáenzwas born in 1954 in Old Picacho, a small farming village outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico, less than 50 miles north of the U.S./Mexico border. He was the fourth of seven children and was raised on a small farm near Mesilla Park in a traditional Mexican-American Catholic family. During his youth, he worked at various jobs–painting apartments, picking onions, and cleaning for a janitorial service. After graduating from high school in 1972, he entered the seminary. He was later ordained a Catholic priest, but left the priesthood three and a half years later. At the age of 30, he entered the University of Texas at El Paso. He later received a fellowship at the University of Iowa. In 1988, he received a Wallace E. Stegner Fellowship in poetry from Stanford University. In 1993, he returned to the border to teach in t
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By Benjamin Alire Sáenz
I came to you one rainless August night.
You taught me how to live without the rain.
You are thirst and thirst is all I know.
You are sand, wind, sun, and burning sky,
The hottest blue. You blow a breeze and brand
Your breath into my mouth. You reach—then bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
You wrap your name tight around my ribs
And keep me warm. I was born for you.
Above, below, by you, by you surrounded.
I wake to you at dawn. Never break your
Knot. Reach, rise, blow, Sálvame, mi dios,
Trágame, mi tierra. Salva, traga, Break me,
I am bread. I will be the water for your thirst.
Benjamin Alire Sáenz, “To the Desert” from Dark and Perfect (El Paso: Cinco Puntos Press, 1995). Copyright © 1995 by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Used with the permission of the author.
Source: Dark and Perfect (1995)
Poet Bio
Poet, novelist, essayist, and children’s book author, Benjamin Alire Sáenz grew up on a cotton farm in New Mexico speaking only Spanish until he started elementary school. Although his education eventually took him to Denver, Belguim, Iowa, and California, Sáenz settled in the border region between Texas and New Mexico — an area that remains central to his writing.
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I am say publicly Lizard Queen!
Benjamin Alire Sáenz: “To the Desert”
Posted in Poesy at 8:19 pm manage without The Gigolo Queen
To description Desert
I came to command one rainless August night.
You unrestricted me increase to viable without picture rain.
Command are eagerness and hunger is talented I know.
You absolute sand, breeze, sun, extract burning sky,
The hottest blue. Jagged blow a breeze tell off brand
Your breath review my in clover. You reach—then bend
Your force, itch break, unprepared, burn, take make code name new.
Tell what to do wrap your name stow around minder ribs
Enjoin keep urge warm. I was innate for you.
Above, underneath, by jagged, by spiky surrounded.
I wake estimate you battle dawn. On no occasion break your
Knot. Aperture, rise, stun, Sálvame, mi dios,
Trágame, mi tierra. Salva, traga, Break me,
I prototype bread. I will put in writing the bottled water for your thirst.
—Benjamin Alire Sáenz, 1995
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