TWO SONNETS

Rodrigo Toscano

American Century

A day, let’s say, blended into the next —
Itself, a mélange of past-future days
Taffy days, we might call these so-called “days”
All forgotten by forgotten night times.
And so we waited for punctuations:
Hurricanes, government coups, a package
But more usually, alarms going off
Into the blender of completed tasks
Those fresh Do Right shakes losing kick power.
“Time for a vacation” one voice chimed in
As another package thumped the front door.
“Time for revolution!” someone posted
But far-off fires sparked raging “hot takes”
For like, two and a half days, forgotten.

Nation Peddlers

“Creolization––smacked into pilgrims––
‘The city upon a hill’ lost pillars
Thus, the polis couldn’t prop up ethnos
Giving rise to a volatile subject
The impact at all levels of culture
We’re talking about hectares of novels
Metric tons of he said, she said, they said
Overjuiced, if you know what I mean, dean”
Said the adjunct to the Dean of Letters
Thinking Dean of Letters the right title
“Provost. But you’re correct, Winthrop––is toast
And all ‘Coming to America’ tales
Including yours and mine, are peak race porn”
“Dang dean, me and you, we’re nation peddlers!”

Rodrigo Toscano is the author of thirteen books of poetry. His latest books are WHITMAN. CANNONBALL. PUEBLA (Omnidawn, 2025, National Poetry Series finalist, NYPL best books of 2025), The Cut Point (Counterpath, 2023), The Charm & The Dread (Fence, 2022), and Salvage Nation: 100 Sonnets (Winter Editions, 2026). Collapsible Poetics Theater was a 2008 National Poetry Series selection. He works for the Labor Institute in conjunction with the United Steelworkers. He has been on the board of the New Orleans Poetry Festival since 2016.