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'