WEBVTT

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Hi.

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In Rodrigo Toscano's poetry,
there's lots of explosions.

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Even before his book
Explosion Rocks Springfield,

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there was already
language that asks readers

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to think about neologisms like
Homo Momo, idealove, and now,

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frabbajabba.

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Raised on the border of
California and Mexico,

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his poems are familiar
with what it's

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like to cross borders of
form, genre, and language.

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They are experimental,
yet can also

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take the form of conversation.

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Rodrigo is somewhat
of an outlier

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in the vein of Cathy Park
Hong or our own Farid Matuk.

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He is a person of color.

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He is a poet who is
a person of color,

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but who also moves in the
conceptual and the avant garde.

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He is someone I look up to,
admire and am inspired by,

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maybe because he
looks like me, or he

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looks like someone I know.

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He could be my tío, my
primo, my cousin, my uncle.

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And to see a writer
like him have success

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and write amazing, strange,
experimental poetry,

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is a big deal for me, as I'm
sure it is for other Latino,

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Latina, and Latinx poets.

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His poetry is philosophical,
performative, engaging,

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and funny.

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Please help me in
welcoming Rodrigo Toscano.

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