"A poet like Jimmy Santiago Baca needs not to rely on the poetic paraphernalia to be successful. He has life to draw his technique from. His poems do not have that pared-down-language quality, but are wordy in the best way because they are more than language; they speak the poet's truth, and the truth of his people. More than anything, this book—and it is a book of poems rather than a collection of poems—is moving. One wonders how did the poet find patience to endure writing these poems, which are about much that is painful."

-- Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)