Clarissa

Expansive, witty, incisive, vulnerable!

Revisado: 04-03-18

What did you love best about IRL?

This is a prime example of textual, thematic, and stylistic oscillation. Tommy Pico is a master. IRL is everywhere at once: cutting, hilarious, vulnerable—an exercise in the force of language, performance, and intersectionality. But, it's not aimless; this is its focus. The poem lives in multiplicity and in betweenness (academically: queer––and beautifully queer in all the ways).This is not a poem for the faint of heart (or for people who want to keep it together while commuting). So nebulous and dialogic! I feel like I’ve just had a relationship with this poem. It’s a space for grappling and digging. I may have cried on the train, just sayin. There’s no one way to describe such a work (nor should there be)! I’m utterly in love with IRL. It's the kind of work that leaves you breathless and unsure of what just hit you. I’m so excited for Tommy Pico's next book "Junk."

What was one of the most memorable moments of IRL?

Every moment is a most memorable moment. This poem defies easy categorization––it twists and oscillates subject and delivery so often and so deftly, I can't say what's MOST anything about it. That being said, here is one of those moments (near 1:33:00) where Tommy Pico delves into romance, the genocide of the indigenous peoples of the U.S., the oppression of binaries, religion as tool of colonization: "Is Muse good or bad /is the needless dichotomy of a foster god. [...] Literal church imposed onto the foothills of my landscape / whispering I know most of you didn't make it but it's all a part of god's plan [...] Binary is another weapon of the oppressor / justifies conquest / and is a method to ensure survivors (if they are any) will always question their worth to literally just live"

Have you listened to any of Tommy Pico’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, on podcasts (Food 4 Thot, Cooking by Ear) and on the Poetry Foundation's website. It's every bit as good, though on podcasts, it will naturally feel more impromptu.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES! Absolutely, yes.

Any additional comments?

As always with poetry, I feel grateful to have heard this read by its author, especially one so skilled at performance as Tommy Pico.

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