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Rodrigo Toscano

Rodrigo Toscano’s newest book of poetry is In Range (Counterpath Press 2019). Previous books include Explosion Rocks Springfield, Deck of Deeds, Collapsible Poetics Theater (a National Poetry Series selection), and others.His poetry has appeared in the anthologies Voices Without Borders, Diasporic Avant Gardes, Imagined Theatres, Dialectical Imaginaries, Earth Bound, and Best American Poetry. He works for the Labor Institute as a national project director, strategizing around issues that involve environmental and labor culture transformation.

Litigators


He gets up there and - yeah, another litigant


Love that litigant - or, maybe not - write the


Next! next litigant - bring on the


Here - lemme litigate - a tad


Litigational - that's the quality we're looking for


Floats - giant swans - flotillas - on still waters


Music from a giant conch shell


Don't feed the litigators


Y'all assin' it to a seat - or - propped up on feat


Don't feed the litigators


Snout - peeking up - from the swamp - couple dragon flies - 

floozy


What else fits the portrait?


You wake up - peek at the news


You go to bed - peek at the news


Daytime swamp touring - you guessed it


WHEN YOU DIE


There'll be litigation - some - ok - barely


You got on a plane - you checked into your room


You're prepping - hoping - dreaming - scheming


Cute litigators


Stressed out, easy breezy, braniac


Snout - cruisin - cruisin - cruisin


YEAH OK - you fuck - you fuck folks - you fuck folks - then 

what?


Cruisin


Litigational cruises limited liability for-profit national program security clearance protocol


Floats - fireworks - strings in unison - rising from a conch 

shell


Lil dragon fly round the - is fed


You eat what's fed you?


Next up we have


Let's give it up for


It's a dream - come true


We're so excited


Snout


Moonlight


Conch shell


Float


Music - imperial - enigmatic


A night of


A summer of


A lifetime of


You take a break - and on your break


Yup


LITIGATE


Silently performatively


WHEN YOU'RE BORN


You're dying already


Buffo - WHAT A RELIEF


Magma


Top magma


You wanna be top dog?


Top magma


Top magma on the move


To enigmatic music


Assin' it to a seat - or propped up on feet


Snout - see it?


Next up


The quality we're looking for


Prepped


Cruisin


You wake up - bang - face ripped off


News peeking in


Litigate that


Quietly - profoundly - loudly - perfunctorily


Wretch - LITIGATE - now


Cloud covers moon - cloud moves aside


MOONLIGHT


Giant conch shell - floats - kettle drums - woodwinds


Moonlit snouts


Swamp tours


Journals, anthologies, prizes


Swamp tours


Magma


Strings in unison


Imperial beat


Dreams/schemes - schemes/dreams


THE EXCEPTION


She gets up there and yeah, another litigant


LOVE that litigant - or - maybe not - write the


Next - bring on the


Climbing onto the float like that - chomping at the conch


MOONLIGHT


Or - prepping for moonlight -  you know


Litigate to prep for moonlight


THE EXCEPTION


Angelic Body


Floating - gliding alongside


Nobody knows it


Everybody wants it


The litigators are:


Magma


Cruisin


Prepped


Next up:


Angelic Body


Floating - gliding alongside


Nobody knows it


Everybody wants it


The litigators are:


Dragon flies


Moon


Drums


Snouts - see them?




Blank Page (aka world opinion)


O blank page you flub - welcome


Splattered DNA of societies to come


Come - dangle ideologic dongs, tits, balls


Post-material puss for abstract neuter cum dried up on meta belly to be that


Or whatever scramble y'all prefer


Or whatever scramble y'all prefer


There was a feisty court of world opinion


Where the battle lay between Global and The Interiorites


The Live Anywheres v.s. The Live Hereabouters


Yokels - step up - be stout


Trotters - tread lightly - grip tight


The jingles - got'em?


So you got a Ukrainian Nationalist Berliner bent on Non-

Russo-Zone Narratives - catch


So you got a Russian Trans-Nationalist bent on Transducing U.S. Regional Tensions - catch


More to come


The count - ready?


Zero Non-Academic in Poetry Journal


Zero Construction Sector Folks


Zero Service Sector Folks


Zero Maritime Sector Folks


Zero Agricultural Sector Folks


Zero Domestic Work Sector Folks


Zero Medical Sector Folks


Alarms 1 through 7


The jingles


And you got an Americanist bent on Transliterating an Atlanticist Cultural Command Center - release


And you got a Bi-Continental Futurologist bent on Boiling Down World Pop Culture as Failed Local Folk Ways - release


Count'em up - splash hydrochloric acid on it


Deep Burn on the Brawny Brain of World Siblinghood


Count'em up - peel off the mask


O Blank Page! miss you


Societal DNA - nobody knows it


O but for clues!


You got a Chinese F-1 Visa Fellow bent on 1990's PRC Deep-Encrypted Resistance Poetry - catch


And you got a (never forget U.K. twisted legacy regional mapping) Kurdish Cultural Operative bent on Dark Web Podcast Scene Shake Up - catch


So what's the count - now?


Alarm 8


There is no truce between Communitarians and Individualists - as yet


Scramble (it) (it) (it) (it) (it)


Splattered DNA of the Dying Society of Forgotten Motives on the Move


Finance Sector Bowling Ball towards your teeth - clench, absorb


DNA of Decomposing Aesthetic Solutions to Everyday Capitalist Time Strictures Implemented As: Games


Countem' up - portside / starboard


Over-representation of Incubating Northeastern Mass Urbanites Apportioning National Aesthetic Pills - release

Over-representation of the Evolving Lords of Devolving Education Departmentalism - release


The jingles


Jingle jingle little square, trapezoidal   in   a   hole


And you got a Bay Area Canadian bent on - Bay Area Canadianism - lottery draw


And you got a (remember the cosmos - always) Chicano Disco Ball Erotic Poet bent on Social Justice - lottery draw


Or whatever scramble y'all prefer


The ship hole - what?


The hole in the ship! oh

Where the battle they said was between The Urbs and the Sub-Urbs


The Taste Anythings v.s. The Tried N' Truers

And what the devil does "transducing" mean?


And what about "transliterating"?


Ship ahoy!


Communitarians - bent on deck chair rearrangement - portside


Individualists - bent on deck chair cushions rearrangement - starboard


Alarms 9 & 10


Zero Former or Current Military Sector


Zero Informal Paid Sex Sector


Alarm 11


Zero Energy Extraction and Distribution Sector


Scramble it    Zero + Zero + Zero


And    if you relate well with people - and are fair and balanced (but not "most watched")


You're a Same Ole!


Hurray for Same Ole!


Same Ole! Same Ole! Same Ole! Same Ole!


Those for equal sign - same


Rapid Thaw in the Grassy Brain of World Siblinghood


Hereabouters pumped about Symbolic Saviorship - T-Man dosed / T-Man duped - catch


Anywherers pumped about Symbolic Contra-Saviorship - T-Man dosed / T-Man duped - catch


Same Oles - gathering mass


Indivisible  Zero + Zero + Zero + Zero + Zero


Jingle jingle little    hole    "hi"


And you got a Dual     Citizen     ghost   making you lunch


And you got a Mono  Citizen   precariat  serving you lunch


Ship ahoy!


What scramble - y'all prefer?


Zero's - on the move - Same Ole


Globals and Interiorites - step lively - off deck


Rapid Re-Freeze over the Watery Brain of World Siblinghood


My glory!  someone spouts    Spare Us


My lord!   someone blurts  Bring It On

Scramble (it) (it) (it) (it) (it)


The jingles


Damn right I got'em!


Blank Page - fuckin' - pick up your shit and get movin'

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