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Dark and Perfect Angels: A Collection of Poems
Saenz' poetry has always been centered in the geography and cultures of the desert Southwest. Dark and Perfect Angels moves deeper into that territory, exploring the difficult braiding of Mexican, Indian and European traditions of his heritage, the struggles and complications of family life, the visceral nature of religious faith in Mexico "where any saint worth praying to must be adorned with blood as well as gold," a priest's anointing of a young man dying from gunshot, the shedding of the priest's robes and the secular quest for faith.
- GenresPoetry
130 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 1996
2 people are currently reading
273 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Alire Sáenz
32 books15.7k followersBenjamin Alire Sáenz (born 16 August 1954) is an award-winning American poet, novelist and writer of children's books.
He was born at Old Picacho, New Mexico, the fourth of seven children, and was raised on a small farm near Mesilla, New Mexico. He graduated from Las Cruces High School in 1972. That fall, he entered St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado where he received a B.A. degree in Humanities and Philosophy in 1977. He studied Theology at the University of Louvain in Leuven, Belgium from 1977 to 1981. He was a priest for a few years in El Paso, Texas before leaving the order.
In 1985, he returned to school, and studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso where he earned an M.A. degree in Creative Writing. He then spent a year at the University of Iowa as a PhD student in American Literature. A year later, he was awarded a Wallace E. Stegner fellowship. While at Stanford University under the guidance of Denise Levertov, he completed his first book of poems, Calendar of Dust, which won an American Book Award in 1992. He entered the Ph.D. program at Stanford and continued his studies for two more years. Before completing his Ph.D., he moved back to the border and began teaching at the University of Texas at El Paso in the bilingual MFA program.
His first novel, Carry Me Like Water was a saga that brought together the Victorian novel and the Latin American tradition of magic realism and received much critical attention.
In The Book of What Remains (Copper Canyon Press, 2010), his fifth book of poems, he writes to the core truth of life's ever-shifting memories. Set along the Mexican border, the contrast between the desert's austere beauty and the brutality of border politics mirrors humanity's capacity for both generosity and cruelty.
In 2005, he curated a show of photographs by Julian Cardona.
He continues to teach in the Creative Writing Department at the University of Texas at El Paso.
He was born at Old Picacho, New Mexico, the fourth of seven children, and was raised on a small farm near Mesilla, New Mexico. He graduated from Las Cruces High School in 1972. That fall, he entered St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado where he received a B.A. degree in Humanities and Philosophy in 1977. He studied Theology at the University of Louvain in Leuven, Belgium from 1977 to 1981. He was a priest for a few years in El Paso, Texas before leaving the order.
In 1985, he returned to school, and studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso where he earned an M.A. degree in Creative Writing. He then spent a year at the University of Iowa as a PhD student in American Literature. A year later, he was awarded a Wallace E. Stegner fellowship. While at Stanford University under the guidance of Denise Levertov, he completed his first book of poems, Calendar of Dust, which won an American Book Award in 1992. He entered the Ph.D. program at Stanford and continued his studies for two more years. Before completing his Ph.D., he moved back to the border and began teaching at the University of Texas at El Paso in the bilingual MFA program.
His first novel, Carry Me Like Water was a saga that brought together the Victorian novel and the Latin American tradition of magic realism and received much critical attention.
In The Book of What Remains (Copper Canyon Press, 2010), his fifth book of poems, he writes to the core truth of life's ever-shifting memories. Set along the Mexican border, the contrast between the desert's austere beauty and the brutality of border politics mirrors humanity's capacity for both generosity and cruelty.
In 2005, he curated a show of photographs by Julian Cardona.
He continues to teach in the Creative Writing Department at the University of Texas at El Paso.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 30, 2024
This isn’t the best poetry he’s written but please read it anyway. He moves me in a way that no other author does. 4.3 stars
November 19, 2019
4.7/5
this man is SO TALENTED.
i feel like i learned so much (new) about Sáenz from this book written by his younger self. a lot of it is clearly autobiographical, and i enjoyed learning so much about his family. especially his grandfather + his brother. and the poem about him getting his name...uGH.
just...the fucking WRITING. he never fails to blow me away.
some favs:
- August 1990
- El Paso County Jail
- Despedia II
- Despedia III
- Hypothermia I
- Hypothermia II
- Autumn 1894
- The Unchroniciled Death of Your Holy Father
- Chihuahua: City of the Lost
- Braided Woman
- Lullaby for Your Family
- Confessions of Benjamin, Your Grandson
- A Final Prayer For Ventura
- Uncles (Who Lie Still and Perfect)
- Benjamin
- Fences
- Arturo, Your Mother
- Contemplating Roads
- Hermanos
- The Adoration of the Infant Jesus
- Gloria. Woman Becoming Her Name.
- Altars in Time II
- Traveling to Chimayo
- Between Worlds
- Miracle in the Garden
- No sabe el río que se llama río
one of my favorites:
"He, in his thirties, tall, dark, wearing a mustache
That covers his face with night. Me, a five year old
Boy already working and working, trying to catch
His sometimes summer smile. I catch only his
Flashing eyes, bolts of lightening branding me, begging me
To bring my lips near his ear and whisper where Mom
Hid the bottle. He knows I know. I know she will
Hate me if I tell. "There!" My finger points up,
"There! In the can, where she keeps the sugar."
He hugs me, reaches up, tears away the lid
Which folds like paper. He brings out the treasure
Buried in white. His fingers feel the glass
As if they were the smooth skin
Of a virgin. I watched his tongue lick loving
Glass like I had never seen him kiss my mother."
—In The Can Where She Keeps The Sugar: June 1959
this man is SO TALENTED.
i feel like i learned so much (new) about Sáenz from this book written by his younger self. a lot of it is clearly autobiographical, and i enjoyed learning so much about his family. especially his grandfather + his brother. and the poem about him getting his name...uGH.
just...the fucking WRITING. he never fails to blow me away.
some favs:
- August 1990
- El Paso County Jail
- Despedia II
- Despedia III
- Hypothermia I
- Hypothermia II
- Autumn 1894
- The Unchroniciled Death of Your Holy Father
- Chihuahua: City of the Lost
- Braided Woman
- Lullaby for Your Family
- Confessions of Benjamin, Your Grandson
- A Final Prayer For Ventura
- Uncles (Who Lie Still and Perfect)
- Benjamin
- Fences
- Arturo, Your Mother
- Contemplating Roads
- Hermanos
- The Adoration of the Infant Jesus
- Gloria. Woman Becoming Her Name.
- Altars in Time II
- Traveling to Chimayo
- Between Worlds
- Miracle in the Garden
- No sabe el río que se llama río
one of my favorites:
"He, in his thirties, tall, dark, wearing a mustache
That covers his face with night. Me, a five year old
Boy already working and working, trying to catch
His sometimes summer smile. I catch only his
Flashing eyes, bolts of lightening branding me, begging me
To bring my lips near his ear and whisper where Mom
Hid the bottle. He knows I know. I know she will
Hate me if I tell. "There!" My finger points up,
"There! In the can, where she keeps the sugar."
He hugs me, reaches up, tears away the lid
Which folds like paper. He brings out the treasure
Buried in white. His fingers feel the glass
As if they were the smooth skin
Of a virgin. I watched his tongue lick loving
Glass like I had never seen him kiss my mother."
—In The Can Where She Keeps The Sugar: June 1959
September 10, 2017
Some parts made me feel things.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews