Doin' Hard Rhyme

Truth be told, the Dallas Observerattracts an interesting niche of readers—convicts. It's not a statistic that our advertising department touts ("We have a lock on Dallas' five-to-10 market!"), but it's certainly there, judging by the letters we receive from locked-up readers out-of-state looking for information about Dallas. Unfortunately, we've yet to receive letters from inmates such as New Mexico's Jimmy Santiago Baca. The Chicano writer taught himself to read when he was thrown in jail at 21; since then, the former inmate has released a series of books full of unique poetry, including "Let all my sensibilities be the breathworkings of this forest/Let its quiet fire, the invisible tissues of its flame, enter me, bless me." Much better than the inmates who write us asking for "all dem bitches," right? See Baca read for KERA 90.1's The Writer's Studio 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Umphrey Lee Ballroom, 3300 Dyer St. Tickets are $34. Call 214-828-1715.
Wed., March 1, 7:30 p.m.