John Burns

The Bags We Carry

Arts & Literature

“With straightforward and compassionate language, these poems rehumanize those who have been repeatedly dehumanized by the rhetoric of those in positions of power and privilege. Recinos bears witness to the systemic injustices of the United States in order to repeatedly and effectively contest what he so rightly calls the ‘syntax of hate.’ Through surprising juxtapositions and lively line breaks, these pieces invite us to commune with the wino, the Buddha, the abuela on her way to church, with Saint Óscar Romero, Billie Holiday, and Maya Angelou, and with the far-flung geographies of El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Florida, and the Bronx all at once, all pulled into the space of the page like a white-hot and urgent prayer.”