Streetwise Wordsmith

New Mexico native Jason L. Yurcic was drawn to gang life while growing up in Albuquerque. Though he never joined, his involvement was enough to keep him illiterate, which prevented him from accepting an athletic scholarship. Yurcic taught himself to read, and the former boxer now conducts poetry workshops and gives presentations in colleges, prisons and schools throughout the United States.

Publish Post

To celebrate the publication of his third book of poems, Odes to Anger, Yurcic will read at the Coronado Mall Barnes & Noble at 1 pm The event is free, call 883-8200 for more information. (Sarah M. Kramer) Barnes & Noble

Hason with Jimmy Santiago Baca and a couple of interns on a trip to Colorado to teach in a boys prison

Savage

I am a savage of the street
contained in me are the images of friends
murdered, shot,
stabbed
fatally wounded in front of me
the knife
the gun
somehow always turned away from me
at the last moment
I write to change my life
but the images never leave
the blood won't wash away
the blood that dripped on my hands
when I held their heads and listened to dieing words
I turn the pages of my life
but the savage lurks within me
reminding me
I was slatted for death
but I escaped
with a savage implanted in my heart...

Jason L Yurcic