Written in the Aftermath of Clash With I.C.E.

Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr spends time with baker Danny Klecko, whose collection of poetry Hitman-Baker-Casketmaker: Aftermath of An American's Clash with ICE documents the moments before and after an I.C.E. audit of the St. Agnes Baking Co. "At the start of 2018, things were looking really good for the St. Agnes Baking Co. As a primary bread provider to restaurants and hotels serving the crowds coming in for the Super Bowl, production was at capacity. Then the bakery ran into immigration problems. In three weeks the business was gone." From there: 

Baker and poet Danny Klecko is now telling his side of the story in a new collection of poems called "Hitman-Baker-Casketmaker: Aftermath of An American's Clash with ICE."

You can now find Klecko overseeing production at Grandma's Bakery in White Bear Lake, a noisy place where giant mixers knead huge buckets of dough along one wall, while a baker uses another machine to fill cupcake baking cups with dough before sliding them into the ovens.

Klecko watches it all with a practiced eye. He's one of those guys who seems to know just about everybody.

"When you feed a city on a daily basis for coming close on four decades, you meet everyone," he said. "You meet the rich, you meet the poor."

Klecko cuts a memorable figure. He's tall, and has been known to train in a boxing gym. An impressive array of tattoos covers his arms and legs. Many represent significant personal moments.

Read more at Minnesota Public Radio.