Commentary
“In contemporary art and letters, Christopher is unique because his voice reveals the complexity of a social and political landscape through a lens that is often intimate, where histories and worlds converge. Indeed, this writer’s poignant work speaks for itself — a humanist voice that has begun its ascension.”
-Yusef Komunyakaa, author of Neon Vernacular
“His work is sweet, difficult, dynamic, in your face, passionate and rich, rich, rich. He writes with an ear and a heart, a great mind and a difficult experience and a rich and varied self. I love his work and its voyage is becoming one of my reading adventures in life.”
—Eileen Myles, author of I Must Be Living Twice
“Loma is the poet giving us the day as we have awaited a real poet to do for a very long time. You are an asshole if you read this book [Sad Girl Poems] and are not destroyed and renewed and see through the poet Loma a way to redemption for us all.”
-CA Conrad, author of Ecodeviance
Reviews
“Each work in this collection [Sad Girl Poems] celebrates degradation. Elevates it. Consecrates it. Soto asserts brown degradation as beauty. In this respect, Soto belongs to a Latin American tradition of lyrically romanticizing abjection …” at Ploughshares
“What keeps impressing me / pressing on me through(out) Sad Girl Poems is the manner in which Soto destroys / dismantles a binary between poetry and life… Here the activism and the poem blend, become inexorably intertwined.” at Entropy
“This work challenges fabrications of acceptance and normality, as such constructs only work to cultivate fear of difference and self-loathing. The queer poetics of Sad Girl Poems seem to readily incite your misunderstandings while also having a life of its own…” at Drunken Boat.
“Christopher Soto’s poems can be rough, blunt, and formally chaotic… it’s near impossible to forget… their writing shares a declarative style, a political surrealism, and an insistence on centering politics.” at Muzzle Magazine.
Selected Poems
– “Maybe the Cubicle // Is Another Incarceration” and “[YSL] Haute Couture” at Boston Review.
-“Oakland, Cal” at PEN America
– “[SOMEWHERE IN LOS ANGELES] THIS POEM IS NEEDED” at American Poetry Review.
– “In Support of Violence” at Tin House.
-“All the Dead Boys Look Like Me” at the Literary Hub.
– “Transactional Sex with Satan” “Self Portrait as Sonoran Desert” “Yes, I Hate America” at Vinyl Poetry.
– “Los Padrinos Juvenile Detention Center: Unit Y2” at Hyperallergic.
– “Middle Class Fist Fight” “Those Sundays” “Home [Chaos Theory]” at Omnidawn.
