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He has the worn
look of despair
that only rainless days can give.
That is all I know.
He might have been born
in Jerusalem. She loves her yellow umbrella!
A Gift from Papa Diego
Sensitively told and true to the experience of many Mexican Americans, this bilingual picture book bridges the borders that separate all families who must live far apart from their loved ones.—Booklist
Everything Begins & Ends at the Kentucky Club
Benjamin Alire Sáenz's stories reveal how all borders entangle those who live on either side.
I shine shoes
and wash the feet
of the rich.Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood
It is 1969, America is at war, "Hollywood" is a dirt-poor Chicano barrio in small-town America, and Sammy and Juliana face a world of racism, war in Vietnam, and barrio violence. I begin to believe
that the man has escaped
from Auschwitz.Or Jesus.
Or Muhammad.
He might have been a prophet.
He might have been a common thief.
He might have been a terrorist
or he might have been just
another man destined
to be worn down
by the ceaseless, callous storms.
He might have come
from a country called Afghanistan.
He might have been from Mexico.He might have been
looking for a well.
His dreams were made of water.
His lips touching
water—yes—
that is what he was dreaming.I can still hear the sound of the bullet.
*
The man reappears.
It does not matter
that I do not want him
in my dreams.The Fifth Dream: Bullets and Deserts and Borders
A man is walking toward me.
He is alone.
He has been walking through the desert.
He has been walking for days.
He has been walking for years.
His lips are dry
and cracking
like a piece of spent soil.
I can see his open wounds.
His eyes are dark
as a Tanzanian night.He discovers I have been watching
though he has long ceased to care
what others see.He is the author of four additional poetry collections, including The Book of What Remains (Copper Canyon Press, 2010); Dreaming the End of the War (Copper Canyon Press, 2006); and Dark and Perfect Angels (Cinco Puntos Press, 1993), which won a Southwest Book Award from the Border Librarians Association. He has also written numerous children’s books, some bilingual, and works of literary fiction, including Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club (Cinco Puntos Press, 2012), which was awarded the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
Alire Sáenz’s poetry is characterized by his relationship to the El Paso area’s landscape and culture and informed by his personal struggles with trauma and addiction.
Poet Luis Alberto Urrea says, “The work of Benjamin Alire Sáenz is rooted firmly on the border, in that space between the sacred and profane. Jerusalem?
I don’t know. His parents lost the farm when he was in the fourth grade, and he worked odd jobs to supplement the family’s income. He might
have been the direct descendant
of a pharaoh.Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. I don’t know.
*
I am walking in the desert.
I see that I am reaching a border.
A bullet is piercing my heart.
Last Night I Sang to the Monster
Zach is eighteen.
He is
searching through the rubble
of what was once his house.
There are no tears on his
face. His name
might have been Ptolemy.
His name might have been
Moses. I am an illegal.
I am a Mexican who hates all Americans.
I am an American who hates all Mexicans.
I am a Palestinian who hates all Israelis.
I am an Israeli who hates all Palestinians.
I am a Palestinian Jew who hates himself.I am dying of all this knowledge.
I am dying of thirst.
I am a river that will never know water again.
I am becoming dust.*
I am walking toward my home.
Mexico City?He speaks for us all, and he speaks hard truths.”
Alire Sáenz is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Award and two Lambda Literary Awards. Perhaps he sinned
against the Nazis or because
he was a collaborator or because
he was Jewish
or because he loved another man.
He has come
to the desert looking
for a place he can call home.
I fall asleep trying
to give the man a name.*
The man is now
walking toward a city
that is no longer there.*
I am the man.
I see clearly.Ram is Mexican-American, lives in the poor section of town, and is doing his best to keep his mother sane while his brother fights off a drug-induced coma. He's also an alcoholic and in rehab instead of high school, but he doesn't remember how he got there.
The Inexplicable Logic of My Life
The first day of senior year: Everything is about to change.
The Dog Who Loved Tortillas
Diego and his sister Gabriela argue over their new dog Sofie.