Copyright© 1981 by Ricardo Sánchez, All rights reserved

Illustrated by José Antonio Burciaga

SLOUGH PRESS
c/o Paperbacks Plus
407 Lavaca
Austin, TX 78701

ISBN 0-941720-07-1
Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 81-84638
Catalog Card Number: 81-84638

Printed by
FAS PUBLISHING
P.O. Box 5453
Madison, WI 53705

           TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Journeys:: Praxis or Entelechy...................5
      drizzling moments................................9
      interminable....................................13
      ships, sloops, kayaks...........................18
      Tinieblas y Prisiones::Voyage to Lemon Creek....19
      & would that I could............................26
      bar banter......................................28
      vida o muerte in a strange land.................37

A Note on the Author and Illustrator

RICARDO SÁNCHEZ was born & raised in El Paso. He was the 13th son, the youngest. Grew up in a barrio, left El Paso to undertake serious readings and studies at Soledad Prison in California and later at the Texas Prison System. After much serious study, Sánchez acquired a GED(high school equivalency certificate), and armed with that deadly pedagogical tool, he proceeded to earn a Ph.D. from Union Graduate School within five years of his release from prison. He has traveled extensively through the USA, Mexico, & parts of Europe, reading, lecturing, and enjoying life. He has taught at El Paso Community College, New Mexico State University at Las Cruces, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and the University of Utah. He was, furthermore, once on the staff of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has lectured at Yale, Stanford, Harvard, UT/Austin, and many other places. He founded the Canto al Pueblo Festival, then left it in the hands of others to do with as they chose. The published and unpublished works of Dr. Sanchez have been officially archived at the Benson Latin American Collection at the General Library of the University of Texas at Austin. Though he has published voluminously and has lectured worldwide, Dr. Ricardo Sánchez, at this historical (or hysterical) juncture is enjoying unemployment compensation in the mormonific state of Utah, a state which he prefaces with the letter P. Sanchez thrives along with his family, i.e., Maria Teresa his mate, and their children: Rikárd-Sergei, Libertad-Yvonne, and Jacinto-Temilotzín. These poems were written during his residency at the University of Alaska as a writer in residence, Summer of 1979, wherein Sanchez taught a creative writing course for the University at the Lemon Creek Alaska State Prison and a practicum. The practicum evolved into Lemon Creek Gold: A Journal of Prison Literature, with Sánchez serving as the initiating editor. Additionally, one must add that Ricardo Sánchez is quite probably the most awesomely humble person to ever walk the earth; his other qualities include greatness, brilliance, and a sensitive humor . . . .

JOSÉ ANTONTIO BURCIAGA was born August 23rd, 1940 in El Paso, Texas. He holds a BA from the University of Texas at El Paso, and has studied art the the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. and the San Francisco Art Institute. He is primarily a visual artist who has found more success with poetry and newspaper articles, but still earns a living as a technical illustrator. He has published extensively in Chicano/Hispanic literary magazines and in Mexico. He is also a muralist and Junior College arts professor. His two books of poetry, written in the free verse oral tradition, are Restless Serpent and Drink Cultura.