Ending Hispanic Heritage Month with Poetry

By: Jessei Caceres

On October 15th, Professor Marcy Henry, set up a presentation for her film class to meet with her poet friends, Diego Baez and Jacob Saenz.

Starting with Jacob Saenz who was born in Cicero Illinois, he graduated from Columbia College, and he is the author of “Throwing the Crown” which won the 2018 First Book Prize. The book is filled with poems about his childhood in Cicero. 

Q: Do you consider your poems as important? A: I grew up with short stories of fiction and I believe that the idea of stories seems important to me. You’re supposed to have fun with your work and not make it stressful 

After Jacob’s presentation, Diego Baez was introduced by Professor Henry. Baez is from central Illinois, his book is called “Yaguarete White”.  Which is about his experience being the few brown kids in the neighborhood, he shares about the times he’s been to Prague, North Argentina, and South Brazil. 

Q: Do you write truthfully when you know it’s going to be published or do you write it for yourself? A: If there is potential with my drafts then I show it to people, drafts are supposed to be garbage. The best ways to know if things are good is to read it out loud 

Professor Henry hosted another poetic guest, Pablo Ramirez, he is the author of “Pocho Love” which is about his life in Pilsen Chicago. The book contains a lot of collages of different media he enjoys, he tries to match the collages with the poems.  

Q: Do you write these poems in your free time or every day? A: It’s been very specific, I’m gonna read Sunday, and write a new poem when it fits in it when you can. I don’t set aside an hour a day, I’m not prepared to set aside time for myself for the poem. For the book I took 2-3 weeks during my winter break, I tried to get funding for my book in the city but I found someone who can. If you want to experiment with making a book, feel free to go to Kindle Direct Publishing, for self-publishing, sign up, that’s how I made my book and I showed it to my friends. 

Caption: Jacob Saenz reading from his book and answering student questions. Photo Credit: Marcy Henry