Copyright © 2007 by Jimmy Santiago Baca

All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or website review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

AUTHOR’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: My gratitude goes out to Stacy, Esai, Tones and Gabe for their unwavering love, as well as to my friend Arturo Sandoval. 1 also wish to thank Brian Miller and Gene Thaw for the support they gave me, allowing me complete this book at Wind River Ranch.

Book design by Sylvia Frezzolini Severance
First published as New Directions Paperbook 1060 in 2007

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Baca, Jimmy Santiago, 1952–

Spring poems along the Rio Grande / Jimmy Santiago Baca.

p. cm.

“First published as New Directions paperbook 1060 in 2007”—T.p. verso.

Includes index.

ISBN: 978-0-8112-2339-3 (e-book)

1. Rio Grande Valley—Poetry. 2. Rio Grande—Poetry. 3. Spring—Poetry.

4. Nature—Poetry. I. Title.

PS3552.A254S67 2007

81 I ’.54—dc22

2006101678

New Directions Books are published for James Laughlin
by New Directions Publishing Corporation,
80 Eighth Avenue, New York 1001 1