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 11^th 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