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w_st_n's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
I don't read much poetry but I loved this. I plan on redoing it a second time to make sure I absorb it all but Soto's voice carries the weight of his poetry and its subject matter in a way that really drove it home for me.
I think the same style with lighter subjects wouldn't be as effective. The flow and structure of this book also lent itself perfectly to the weight and timeliness of Soto's writing.
I think the same style with lighter subjects wouldn't be as effective. The flow and structure of this book also lent itself perfectly to the weight and timeliness of Soto's writing.
sarahglen's review
4.0
Serving as both kindling for justified rage and a salve for wounds that slice deep across communities, Christopher Soto's debut collection is exactly as it ends: a reason to "Get the fuck up & fight"
For students of abolition everywhere, Soto's work is a clarion call for immediate and consistent action against the carceral state. In particular, The Children In Their Little Bulletproof Vests, Scizophrenic Fucker, and A Beautiful Day In The Psychiatric // Garden stuck with me.
"It's so American // The constant grieving of violets
Blooming state violence // What's left to say"
For students of abolition everywhere, Soto's work is a clarion call for immediate and consistent action against the carceral state. In particular, The Children In Their Little Bulletproof Vests, Scizophrenic Fucker, and A Beautiful Day In The Psychiatric // Garden stuck with me.
"It's so American // The constant grieving of violets
Blooming state violence // What's left to say"
estefthechef's review
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
3.0
Identity poetry that didn’t add or push any conversation forward. This would have been it in 2018 but now I’ve felt and read more nuanced & challenging work that explored every one of these identities. Kinda bummed. Also, why terrorist?? ‘Terrorist’ is an oppressive Western designation to Arab + Muslim people. Soto seems to be co-opting the term to underline the US fear and danger around the Latine person, both as subjective experience and state designation. However, this conflation actually waters down what could be a very powerful reclamation, if ‘terrorist’ were a term for Latine people could reclaim. In this way, he invalidates both Latine and Arab/Muslim revolutionary struggle. Got into Soto through his abolitionist work tho and his first work was rad.