A Carpenter With a Hammer: a poem
‘A Carpenter With a Hammer,’ was published in Poets Reading the News on July 2021. It is a moving tribute to Sean Monterrosa, a 22-year-old Latino man living in Vallejo who was the victim of police violence. This was not even a week after the unjust murder of George Floyd last year, and happened after Sean Monterrosa went to march to protest the death of George Floyd. The poem was also performed by City Lights Theater Company's Ivette Deltoro at the event "Our Stories, Ourselves," organized by the San José Museum of Art and Play on Words. Here's that performance. CNN reported on Sean's family's plight here, in case you want to get more context. And here's also his family's GoFundMe page, in case you feel compelled to donate to them.
“The same hammer you used to build other people’s houses, to build generational wealth. And on that day, to build a resistance. I will remember your hammer as a tool.”
La imaginación criminal: un poema
‘La imaginación criminal’ es un poema que fue primordialmente escrito en Marsella, Francia, en septiembre de 2019, y fue publicado en julio de 2021 en la Revista Innombrable.
Los versos tratan de extrapolar lo que puede ser la imaginación criminal en el caso del poeta, reflejado en un poema del esperpento. El poema también explora las asociaciones que devienen de un suceso fantasmagórico sucedido al otro lado del Atlántico el día en que el poema fue escrito.
“El robar momentos,
y si eres holgazán,
tal vez robarás días.”
Pandæmonium: A proem in XIX parts
Pandæmonium is an interactive, serialized proem exploring collective human experiences of the pandemic through an alternate, digital hellscape. Initiated by artist Camilo Garzón in March 2020 while under strict lockdown in Lavapiés, Madrid, this multimedia project blends prose, poetry, and hellish imagery to process the surreality of our shifting world and create moments of connection through openings that invite those who wish to pass through the cracks for digital collaboration and co-creation. This project was released in three parts, with four opportunities to co-create part of this work that were open to all. 30 people from 3 continents and from 23 locations ended up participating and co-creating it.
“At this point of anguish,
I’d even go to Hell
to get Lucifer
on the record
about his plans
to welcome
more dæmons
to his retinue,
before my ashes
turn and languish.”
Oikos: A proem
‘Oikos’ was published in the 2020-2021 edition of Brushing Art and Literary Journal. It was written back in 2017. It's about what surrounds us and how we go about making our homes, if we can. It finally found a home back in one of the (many) places Camilo has called home: Winter Park, FL.
It’s a proem that necessitates multiple readings, with each verse revealing itself little by little. A basic interpretation of the proem is that it's about people of lesser means who try to find respite in their own spaces, in their own homes, and show generosity even when there is not much to give. But it also is about people with more means who often are the ones that get to decide where these aforementioned people get to live, or not.
“And once you know, that this is your home, this is how you’ll grow free to love and the heart, a wanderer.”
Entombed: A proem in five stages
A basic interpretation of the proem is that it’s about the lies we tell ourselves and what those mean when accepting who we are and changing who we can become. There are prominent intertextual references to Sikhism and Christianity throughout it. The title is derived from ‘Entombed’ by Deftones from their 2014 album “Koi No Yokan,” with lyrics by Camilo Wong “Chino” Moreno.
An abridged version was awarded one of the inaugural San Francisco Foundation / Nomadic Press Literary Awards for poetry.
“And then comes the realization. That although a house was taken from you, you can still build a home in a wine jar.”
Ontologies: Ten Proems
These are ten experimental literary pieces written by Camilo Garzón between 2012 and 2015, while he was an undergraduate student at Rollins College. The pieces here are referred to as proems in honor of Sasha Sokolov’s neologism—proeziia.
Because of the proems’ experimental nature – as all literature should strive to be – the languages, ontologies, and words used, are essential for the truth-game and for the language-game in which they attempt to immerse the reader.
“An inference of perspective, a glimpse of regularity, causation of habit, and the only recurrence: my faith in you.”