Overview

"Explosion Rocks Springfield is eighty one-page iterations of the following line: The Friday evening gas explosion in Springfield leveled a strip club next to a day care. Each iteration consists of analytical-philosophic queries, lyrical diffractions, and paranarrative documentary. Sixteen sub-topic variations appear. Every single word of the primary thematic line is exfoliated, extended, and exploded, multiplied, in a fugal structure, seeking the effects of content density, tension, and return. Continual re-figuration of all themata invites the reader to experience a pleasurable engagement with a material transparency that is neither prepackaged (""found"") nor fancied from thin air (""inspired""). What is explosion to a slab of drywall? What is ""drywall"" exactly? HEIGH-HO! Why do people strip? What is ""day care""? Why ""day""? What is night care? Why daylight why daylight why daylight. What is ""care"" exactly? Gas. Wherefrom gas? Raised in southern California, experimental poet, playwright, and labor activist Rodrigo Toscano is the author of seven collections of poetry including Collapsible Poetics Theater (2008), which was chosen for the National Poetry Series, and Deck of Deeds (2012). His work has been widely translated and anthologized; his radio pieces have aired on stations across the country. Toscano works for the Labor Institute in conjunction with the United Steelworkers and the National Institute for Environmental Health Science. He lives in Brooklyn, New York."

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Reviews

How often can it be said that a book of poetry is gripping ? How often does one make you feel, as Dickinson put it, that the top of your head has been taken off? This book is/does that. It s a rhythmic, percussive interrogation of the first sentence of a news article: ...gas explosion...leveled a strip club next to a day care center. This explosion brings a lot of unexpected questions to light: Why do people strip? Is fire itself in the act of stripping? And, of course, What is to'plode? Toscano's new work ex and implodes into the stringent sense and nonsense of the present moment. Rae Armentrout Now, I feel like I want to say that now we can really get together. Try to figure outwhat it isto plode. I always hear a double shout in Rodrigo Toscano, A call, which here takes the form of questioning, and does all kinda rudecool things with it, and us answering with delighted apprehension, waiting for some more of the edge and height that s happening to us right here, here and now. Shard presence. Barbed pleasure. Getting together, given in and as corrosion, with interrogative trap set accents, a leveler s investigation of leveling, crunked revelry never punked out. This new music, spun out of the general matter-of-fact disaster, is new social logic. Newsflash: Explosion Rocks Springfield. Fred Moten Antonin Artaud once wrote, Poetry is a dissociating and anarchic force which through analogy, associations and imagery, thrives on the destruction of known relationships which seems to describe the work of RodrigoToscano.In his latest collection, Explosion Rocks Springfield, an instance of a strip club next to a day centeratomizes out into an astute consideration of aftermath, fate, and echo. Toscano s latest is an impressionistic and vernacular reportage of the frontlines of labor and the infinite lexicons that construct them. I am always thrilled to read this a book from the maestro-critic of market spectacle. Carmen Gimenez Smith

How often can it be said that a book of poetry is gripping ? How often does one make you feel, as Dickinson put it, that the top of your head has been taken off? This book is/does that. It's a rhythmic, percussive interrogation of the first sentence of a news article: ...gas explosion...leveled a strip club next to a day care center. This explosion brings a lot of unexpected questions to light: Why do people strip? Is fire itself in the act of stripping? And, of course, What is to 'plode? Toscano's new work ex and implodes into the stringent sense and nonsense of the present moment. --Rae Armentrout Now, I feel like I want to say that now we can really get together. Try to figure out what it is to plode. I always hear a double shout in Rodrigo Toscano, A call, which here takes the form of questioning, and does all kinda rudecool things with it, and us answering with delighted apprehension, waiting for some more of the edge and height that's happening to us right here, here and now. Shard presence. Barbed pleasure. Getting together, given in and as corrosion, with interrogative trap set accents, a leveler's investigation of leveling, crunked revelry never punked out. This new music, spun out of the general matter-of-fact disaster, is new social logic. Newsflash: Explosion Rocks Springfield. --Fred Moten Antonin Artaud once wrote, Poetry is a dissociating and anarchic force which through analogy, associations and imagery, thrives on the destruction of known relationships which seems to describe the work of Rodrigo Toscano. In his latest collection, Explosion Rocks Springfield, an instance of a strip club next to a day center atomizes out into an astute consideration of aftermath, fate, and echo. Toscano's latest is an impressionistic and vernacular reportage of the frontlines of labor and the infinite lexicons that construct them. I am always thrilled to read this a book from the maestro-critic of market spectacle. --Carmen Gimenez Smith -How often can it be said that a book of poetry is -gripping-? How often does one make you feel, as Dickinson put it, that the top of your head has been taken off? This book is/does that. It's a rhythmic, percussive interrogation of the first sentence of a news article: - ...gas explosion...leveled a strip club next to a day care center.- This explosion brings a lot of unexpected questions to light: -Why do people strip?- -Is fire itself in the act of stripping?- And, of course, -What is to 'plode?- Toscano's new work ex and implodes into the stringent sense and nonsense of the present moment.- --Rae Armentrout -Now, I feel like I want to say that now we can really get together. Try to figure out what it is to plode. I always hear a double shout in Rodrigo Toscano, A call, which here takes the form of questioning, and does all kinda rudecool things with it, and us answering with delighted apprehension, waiting for some more of the edge and height that's happening to us right here, here and now. Shard presence. Barbed pleasure. Getting together, given in and as corrosion, with interrogative trap set accents, a leveler's investigation of leveling, crunked revelry never punked out. This new music, spun out of the general matter-of-fact disaster, is new social logic. Newsflash: Explosion Rocks Springfield.- --Fred Moten -Antonin Artaud once wrote, -Poetry is a dissociating and anarchic force which through analogy, associations and imagery, thrives on the destruction of known relationships- which seems to describe the work of Rodrigo Toscano. In his latest collection, Explosion Rocks Springfield, an instance of a strip club next to a day center atomizes out into an astute consideration of aftermath, fate, and echo. Toscano's latest is an impressionistic and vernacular reportage of the frontlines of labor and the infinite lexicons that construct them. I am always thrilled to read this a book from the maestro-critic of market spectacle.- --Carmen Gimenez Smith

How often can it be said that a book of poetry is gripping ? How often does one make you feel, as Dickinson put it, that the top of your head has been taken off? This book is/does that. It's a rhythmic, percussive interrogation of the first sentence of a news article: ...gas explosion...leveled a strip club next to a day care center. This explosion brings a lot of unexpected questions to light: Why do people strip? Is fire itself in the act of stripping? And, of course, What is to 'plode? Toscano's new work ex and implodes into the stringent sense and nonsense of the present moment. --Rae Armentrout Now, I feel like I want to say that now we can really get together. Try to figure out what it is to plode. I always hear a double shout in Rodrigo Toscano, A call, which here takes the form of questioning, and does all kinda rudecool things with it, and us answering with delighted apprehension, waiting for some more of the edge and height that's happening to us right here, here and now. Shard presence. Barbed pleasure. Getting together, given in and as corrosion, with interrogative trap set accents, a leveler's investigation of leveling, crunked revelry never punked out. This new music, spun out of the general matter-of-fact disaster, is new social logic. Newsflash: Explosion Rocks Springfield. --Fred Moten Antonin Artaud once wrote, Poetry is a dissociating and anarchic force which through analogy, associations and imagery, thrives on the destruction of known relationships which seems to describe the work of Rodrigo Toscano. In his latest collection, Explosion Rocks Springfield, an instance of a strip club next to a day center atomizes out into an astute consideration of aftermath, fate, and echo. Toscano's latest is an impressionistic and vernacular reportage of the frontlines of labor and the infinite lexicons that construct them. I am always thrilled to read this a book from the maestro-critic of market spectacle. --Carmen Gimenez Smith

"How often can it be said that a book of poetry is ""gripping""? How often does one make you feel, as Dickinson put it, that the top of your head has been taken off? This book is/does that. It's a rhythmic, percussive interrogation of the first sentence of a news article: "" ...gas explosion...leveled a strip club next to a day care center. This explosion brings a lot of unexpected questions to light: ""Why do people strip?"" ""Is fire itself in the act of stripping?"" And, of course, ""What is to 'plode?"" Toscano's new work ex and implodes into the stringent sense and nonsense of the present moment. --Rae Armentrout Now, I feel like I want to say that now we can really get together. Try to figure out what it is to plode. I always hear a double shout in Rodrigo Toscano, A call, which here takes the form of questioning, and does all kinda rudecool things with it, and us answering with delighted apprehension, waiting for some more of the edge and height that's happening to us right here, here and now. Shard presence. Barbed pleasure. Getting together, given in and as corrosion, with interrogative trap set accents, a leveler's investigation of leveling, crunked revelry never punked out. This new music, spun out of the general matter-of-fact disaster, is new social logic. Newsflash: Explosion Rocks Springfield. --Fred Moten Antonin Artaud once wrote, ""Poetry is a dissociating and anarchic force which through analogy, associations and imagery, thrives on the destruction of known relationships"" which seems to describe the work of Rodrigo Toscano. In his latest collection, Explosion Rocks Springfield, an instance of a strip club next to a day center atomizes out into an astute consideration of aftermath, fate, and echo. Toscano's latest is an impressionistic and vernacular reportage of the frontlines of labor and the infinite lexicons that construct them. I am always thrilled to read this a book from the maestro-critic of market spectacle. --Carmen Giménez Smith"

How often can it be said that a book of poetry is gripping ? How often does one make you feel, as Dickinson put it, that the top of your head has been taken off? This book is/does that. It's a rhythmic, percussive interrogation of the first sentence of a news article: ...gas explosion...leveled a strip club next to a day care center. This explosion brings a lot of unexpected questions to light: Why do people strip? Is fire itself in the act of stripping? And, of course, What is to 'plode? Toscano's new work ex and implodes into the stringent sense and nonsense of the present moment. --Rae Armentrout Now, I feel like I want to say that now we can really get together. Try to figure out what it is to plode. I always hear a double shout in Rodrigo Toscano, A call, which here takes the form of questioning, and does all kinda rudecool things with it, and us answering with delighted apprehension, waiting for some more of the edge and height that's happening to us right here, here and now. Shard presence. Barbed pleasure. Getting together, given in and as corrosion, with interrogative trap set accents, a leveler's investigation of leveling, crunked revelry never punked out. This new music, spun out of the general matter-of-fact disaster, is new social logic. Newsflash: Explosion Rocks Springfield. --Fred Moten Antonin Artaud once wrote, Poetry is a dissociating and anarchic force which through analogy, associations and imagery, thrives on the destruction of known relationships which seems to describe the work of Rodrigo Toscano. In his latest collection, Explosion Rocks Springfield, an instance of a strip club next to a day center atomizes out into an astute consideration of aftermath, fate, and echo. Toscano's latest is an impressionistic and vernacular reportage of the frontlines of labor and the infinite lexicons that construct them. I am always thrilled to read this a book from the maestro-critic of market spectacle. --Carmen Gimenez Smith -How often can it be said that a book of poetry is -gripping-? How often does one make you feel, as Dickinson put it, that the top of your head has been taken off? This book is/does that. It's a rhythmic, percussive interrogation of the first sentence of a news article: - ...gas explosion...leveled a strip club next to a day care center.- This explosion brings a lot of unexpected questions to light: -Why do people strip?- -Is fire itself in the act of stripping?- And, of course, -What is to 'plode?- Toscano's new work ex and implodes into the stringent sense and nonsense of the present moment.- --Rae Armentrout -Now, I feel like I want to say that now we can really get together. Try to figure out what it is to plode. I always hear a double shout in Rodrigo Toscano, A call, which here takes the form of questioning, and does all kinda rudecool things with it, and us answering with delighted apprehension, waiting for some more of the edge and height that's happening to us right here, here and now. Shard presence. Barbed pleasure. Getting together, given in and as corrosion, with interrogative trap set accents, a leveler's investigation of leveling, crunked revelry never punked out. This new music, spun out of the general matter-of-fact disaster, is new social logic. Newsflash: Explosion Rocks Springfield.- --Fred Moten -Antonin Artaud once wrote, -Poetry is a dissociating and anarchic force which through analogy, associations and imagery, thrives on the destruction of known relationships- which seems to describe the work of Rodrigo Toscano. In his latest collection, Explosion Rocks Springfield, an instance of a strip club next to a day center atomizes out into an astute consideration of aftermath, fate, and echo. Toscano's latest is an impressionistic and vernacular reportage of the frontlines of labor and the infinite lexicons that construct them. I am always thrilled to read this a book from the maestro-critic of market spectacle.- --Carmen Gimenez Smith

-How often can it be said that a book of poetry is -gripping-? How often does one make you feel, as Dickinson put it, that the top of your head has been taken off? This book is/does that. It's a rhythmic, percussive interrogation of the first sentence of a news article: - ...gas explosion...leveled a strip club next to a day care center.- This explosion brings a lot of unexpected questions to light: -Why do people strip?- -Is fire itself in the act of stripping?- And, of course, -What is to 'plode?- Toscano's new work ex and implodes into the stringent sense and nonsense of the present moment.- --Rae Armentrout -Now, I feel like I want to say that now we can really get together. Try to figure out what it is to plode. I always hear a double shout in Rodrigo Toscano, A call, which here takes the form of questioning, and does all kinda rudecool things with it, and us answering with delighted apprehension, waiting for some more of the edge and height that's happening to us right here, here and now. Shard presence. Barbed pleasure. Getting together, given in and as corrosion, with interrogative trap set accents, a leveler's investigation of leveling, crunked revelry never punked out. This new music, spun out of the general matter-of-fact disaster, is new social logic. Newsflash: Explosion Rocks Springfield.- --Fred Moten -Antonin Artaud once wrote, -Poetry is a dissociating and anarchic force which through analogy, associations and imagery, thrives on the destruction of known relationships- which seems to describe the work of Rodrigo Toscano. In his latest collection, Explosion Rocks Springfield, an instance of a strip club next to a day center atomizes out into an astute consideration of aftermath, fate, and echo. Toscano's latest is an impressionistic and vernacular reportage of the frontlines of labor and the infinite lexicons that construct them. I am always thrilled to read this a book from the maestro-critic of market spectacle.- --Carmen Gimenez Smith

Author Information

Rodrigo Toscano's newest book of poetry is Explosion Rocks Springfield Fence Books, 2016) His previous books include, Deck of Deeds, Collapsible Poetics Theater (a National Poetry Series selection), To Leveling Swerve, Platform, Partisans, and The Disparities. His poetry has appeared in the anthologies Voices Without Borders, Diasporic Avant Gardes, Imagined Theatres, In the Criminal's Cabinet, Earth Bound, and Best American Poetry. Toscano has received a New York State Fellowship in Poetry. He works for the Labor Institute in conjunction with the United Steelworkers, the National Institute for Environmental Health Science, Communication Workers of America, and National Day Laborers Organizing Network. Toscano lives in the Bayou Saint John Faubourg of New Orleans.

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