On the poem "XX" by Jimmy Santiago Baca, the writer tries to give the Viejos a good name. Mostly the poem is like a story of some old people who survived a war and now they are nearing their death. The writer respects the old Viejos for their deeds.

On the beginning of the poem, the writer tries to tell how much he respects the old men from his village. It is some old people who survived a poverty and live to even tell jokes about it. Now, they are nearing their death so they are trying to repent for their sins and put away all of the materials that made them sin. And they took out their rosaries, went to church probably to ask for forgiveness for their sins to the Lord. On their past, they probably serve on an army and fought a war. And now they are nearing their death and they await it. On that afternoon they did nothing but take a break and wait for their vision of death to arrive. Their vision of death was a woman who wears expensive clothings. So on the ending of "XX" poem, the writer tells how much these people have done and probably idolizes and respected them.

The writer tries to say that these old men should be respected for their deeds and for whatever they endured during their time. The writer respects them, now it is their time to die.