Staff Pick
Tommy Pico's IRL is a poem written in a newfound form, the text message. You probably won't ever receive anything this long in your DMs, but IRL feels just as emotional as receiving a heartfelt text from a dear friend. With musical rhythm and gut-punching humor, IRLis a personal yet relatable poem delivered to you, the reader, straight from Pico's brilliant mind. Recommended By Alex Y., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Poetry. Native American Studies. LGBT Studies. IRL is a sweaty, summertime poem composed like a long text message, rooted in the epic tradition of A.R. Ammons, ancient Kumeyaay Bird Songs, and Beyonce's visual albums. It follows Teebs, a reservation-born, queer NDN weirdo, trying to figure out his impulses/desires/history in the midst of Brooklyn rooftops, privacy in the age of the Internet, street harassment, suicide, boys boys boys, literature, colonialism, religion, leaving one's 20s, and a love/hate relationship with English. He's plagued by an indecision, unsure of which obsessions, attractions, and impulses are essentially his, and which are the result of Christian conversion, hetero- patriarchal/colonialist white supremacy, homophobia, Bacardi, gummy candy, and not getting laid. IRL asks, what happens to a modern, queer indigenous person a few generations after his ancestors were alienated from their language, their religion, and their history? Teebs feels compelled towards "boys, burgers, booze," though he begins to suspect there is perhaps a more ancient goddess calling to him behind art, behind music, behind poetry."
Tommy Pico on PowellsBooks.Blog

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