On September 5, 2014, NPR ran an by critic Juan Vidal titled, “Where Have All the Poets Gone?” which suggested that American poets no longer write political work. Because I find this assessment of contemporary American letters to be very incomplete, I wanted to take the opportunity to create a dialogue on the subject by curating a series of compelling political poems from contemporary American poets. I christened this series “Political Punch” as an affectionate reflection on the cocktail of poets who decided to honor me with their participation in my little Infoxicated Corner; it was intended to celebrate the glorious mix of poetics, voices, and life experiences all being shaken and stirred into a sense of community and conversation, being distilled into burning gulps of experience for the reader. Leaving aside all the boozed-up metaphors, it was also intended to celebrate my experience of American letters, in all their willingness and ability to pack a political punch.
Today’s piece, by poet and prison abolitionist Christopher Soto (aka Loma) steadies its critical gaze on seemingly ubiquitous moments of overlap between its speaker’s daily life and the institution(s) of the US prison system, whose presence permeates our decisions and values perhaps more than we realize as we carry its structures with us, internalized.
CUCAMONGA PEAK
Some girls just want to abolish prisons; paint anarchy across the schizophrenic streets;
tip-topple police cars [wearing black and pink]. There is a revolution to be had, always.
Have you seen it rising, large as a giant? Out there on the horizon. A clamor of picket signs;
glitter thrown against artillery. The riot and the rubber bullets [tear gas and tyranny].
Whose side are you on? Twenty teenagers are handcuffed and taken away. Some good
books are banned behind bars. Some girls sit quiet in Unit Y2. Their brown backs slouched.
Have you seen a mountain fold into itself? And sigh.
Christopher Soto (aka Loma) is a queer latin@ punk poet and prison abolitionist. They are currently curating Nepantla: A Journal Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color in collaboration with The Lambda Literary Foundation. They have work published in Columbia: A Journal, Acentos Review, Anti-, and more. They are an MFA candidate in Poetry at NYU.
