In Range
Rodrigo Toscano
Purchase copies here, or write to counterpath@gmail.com.
The Global and National Golems of Meaning Mirages are kept at bay in Rodrigo Toscano’s In Range. Or are they? 80 poems (written in 30 days), these works seek faint signals of life through the noise of it all. Toscano lasers in on domestic to-do’s in order to confront basic questions of personal and social perseverance. At times, dark & troubled, at others, bewildered & hilarious, In Range is positively hellbent on crashing the Party of Big Meaning. Piecemeal Meaning is what’s actually had. It adds up!
“Consider the poet, writing in the bath. Then consider: the poet, writing in the bath, in New Orleans, where water is the most persistent threat, always signaling the possibility of individual, familial, global, extinction. It’s from this zero point that Toscano deftly grafts the social onto the domestic. You get your hand in the mulch, lay caulk, ponder the ants, let the ants ponder back. Situate these poems in a specific firmament of attention (Brecht, Maddox, F. Howe, Parra, Niedecker), and in this way grasp the expansion-by-way-of-contraction that In Range tempers: ‘From there flows not truth / But the possibility of truth'” —Suzanne Stein
“When was the last time you read a book that, poem after poem, lit up your face with a smile? This is that book. With its warped deliberations on mold and desire, the ephemerality of brick sealant, and the ethics of taking out the blazing lamp next-door with a slingshot, Rodrigo Toscano’s In Range offers a delight in the everyday that’s desperately needed at this moment in history. A political poet with a wild sense of humor—a rare and welcome combination—Toscano stays in range by fastening simple, vernacular diction to a sophisticated engine of syntax. Deeply situated in Louisiana, the poems navigate the immediate—whether the appearance vs. reality of the front lawn or the threat of the neighborhood re-flooding. Both easy-going and formally brilliant, In Range belongs not on the shelf but next to your bed.” —Henk Rossouw
Rodrigo Toscano’s previous books of poetry include Explosion Rocks, Deck of Deeds, Collapsible Poetics Theater (a National Poetry Series selection), To Leveling Swerve, Platform, Partisans, and The Disparities. His poetry has appeared in over twenty anthologies, including Diasporic Avant Gardes, Best Experimental Poetry, Imagined Theatres, Dialectical Imaginaries, Earth Bound, and Best American Poetry. His poetry has been translated into French, Dutch, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Norwegian. Toscano works for the Labor Institute as a national project director strategizing around issues that involve environmental and labor culture transformation. Originally, from San Diego, and after many years in Brooklyn, he now lives in New Orleans. https://rodrigotoscano.com for more.
In Range
September, 2019
Rodrigo Toscano
$22.00; 6″ x 8.25″
112 pgs.
ISBN 978-1-93-399673-8
Purchase copies here, or write to counterpath@gmail.com.