Jimmy Santiago Baca

Baca is a very recollective writer. What goes through my mind when reading A Place to Stand: The Making of a Poet is "how does he remember that?"

Of course, I already know that a major part of writing memoir is knowing that you have to administer fictional (yet close enough to the truth) elements into prose so that you can fill in the much-needed details. I still can't help but wonder about this, though. Any astute reader, when reading any memoir where the writer writes about their childhood, would wonder how that writer remembers such solid, amazing details. Kids don't remember that! It's really interesting that we don't even question it, though. That the thought doesn't even cross our minds. How does Baca remember that the jail smelled like whisky vomit? How does he remember the dialogue between his mother and her secret lover the day he witnessed them having sex?

There are more questions, though, regarding the technique. When writing about one's childhood, what kind of voice should be used? There were times when Baca seemed like a child retelling the story, so I figured he took on the voice of a child to tell this portion of his story. But at other times, the voice seemed inconsistent or contrary to that--that the voice belonged to Baca as an adult. So, I got a little confused. Which way was he trying to go?