Ecopoetics Along Shorelines

Rodriguez shares the raw reality of many aspects of his lived experiences in urban barrios across America. He explores mental illness within a family dynamic, personal and systemic consequences of institutionalized racism in law enforcement, working in construction, financial insecurity, and, less gruesomely, love, sex, dancing, and a revolution. His stories are also somewhat divided into eras, differing temporally and geographically. The common thread that holds this narrative together is community. He describes his neighborhood Watts as a “we,” and uses unifying terms such as “a people’s rage.” Whether fighting or dancing, there is power and passion in their unity.