Monday, February 17, 2020

Carlos Soto-Román, COMMON SENSE



Says yes
Says no
Says maybe
Says I don’t know
Says perhaps
Says I don’t think so
Says probably
Says tomorrow
Says after tomorrow
Says never

I’m absolutely fascinated by the rhythms and cadences of the accumulated declarations of Carlos Soto-Román’s latest, COMMON SENSE (Los Angeles CA Make Now Press, 2020), a book with a lengthy title designed on the cover deliberately referencing a political treatise from an earlier century: “COMMON SENSE; / ADDRESSED TO THE / INHABITANTS / OF / AMERICA, / On the following interesting / SUBJECTS. // I. Of the Flaws and Vices of Government in general; / with concise Critiques on the American Constitution // II. Of Plutocracy and Fake Democratic Succession // III. Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs // IV. Of the present Inability of America, with some / miscellaneous outrages // Written by an AMERICAN.” The effect is provocative, and deliberately so, and the text of the book itself exists as pure provocation, a series and sequence of accumulations that work to speak, acknowledge and overwhelm. He writes on social justice and politics, on issues of class and race and economics. Soto-Román’s book-length poem is reminiscent of some of the work of Gil Scott-Heron (think “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”), pushing a rhythmic pulse of commentary on American politics and a social engagement that requires it to be read aloud, with accompanying beat. And I say this not as anything detrimental to the work; this is an incredibly powerful and lively work, a truly expansive work on American capital, that includes an obvious beat, a social pulse and impulse, and an insistence upon being heard:

Says never assert that a write person is lying
Says never impute dishonorable intentions to a
            white person
Says never suggest that a white person is from an
            inferior class
Says never lay claim to superior knowledge or
            intelligence
Says never curse a white person
Says never laugh derisively at a white person
Says never comment upon the appearance of a
            white female

The author of a slew of books and chapbooks in both the United States and Chile, some of his other American titles include Philadelphia’s Notebooks (Otoliths, 2011), Chile Project: [Re-Classified] (Gauss PDF, 2013), The Exit Strategy (Belladonna, 2014), Alternative Set of Procedures (Corollary Press, 2014) and Bluff (Commune Editions, 2018). While I’m able to find bits and pieces of information on him online, I’m actually a bit surprised to not find more on him and his work; if this book is any example of his larger, ongoing work, I would say Carlos Soto-Román’s work deserves far more attention than it appears to be receiving. I mean, it’s just common sense.

Says Chicago race riot
Says Omaha race riot
Says Knoxville riot
Says Elaine race riot
Says Tulsa race massacre
Says Rosewood Massacre
Says Watsonville Anti-Fillipino riots
Says Detroit riot
Says Harlem riot
Says Zoot suit riots
Says Cicero race riot
Says Battle of Hayes Pond
Says Cambridge riot
Says Harlem riot
Says Rochester riot
Says Philadelphia 1964 race riot
Says Watts riots
Says Division Street riots
Says Hough riots
Says Long hot summer of 1967
Says Tampa riots
Says Texas Southern University riot
Says 1967 Detroit riot
Says Buffalo riot
Says Newark riots
Says Plainfield riots
Says Orangeburg massacre
Says MLK assassination riots
Says Baltimore riot
Says Louisville riots
Says Washington DC riots
Says York race riots
Says Stonewall riots
Says May 11th riot
Says Jackson state killings
Says Camden riots
Says Miami riots
Says Chattanooga riot
Says Crown Heights riot
Says Los Angeles riots
Says Cincinnati riots
Says Benton Harbor riots
Says Toledo riots
Says Fontana High School riot
Says Prison race riots
Says Locke High School riot
Says Oakland riots


1 comment:

Dwight Williams said...

This could be useful. Outrageous in some quarters, perhaps, but useful.