Arizona SB 1070: An Act by Ryan Clark

While it may be true that art cannot redeem the flaws of our deleterious society, it can often reveal more anodyne alternatives nested neatly inside the familiar. Such is the vision of Ryan Clark's ARIZONA SB 1070: AN ACT, a homophonic translation that writes against the hateful and xenophobic 2010 Arizona anti-immigration law that gives the book its title and emerged as a harbinger of much vileness in word and deed during the long decade that followed its passing. Clark's translation innovatively rescripts the bill and calls to the fore the contested nature of language in Arizona. His deft choices and rigorous techniques destabilize and transform the letters of the law itself, using linguistic processes and a keen poet's ear to morph the bill's divisive language into tender, vulnerable, and compassionate lyric poetry that seeks to untangle knots of unease and advocate for healing. While interrogating and investigating the fear of immigrants that buttresses a climate of oppression in which a bill like Arizona SB 1070 becomes law, Clark's work also pursues a public space where difficult dialogues about the wounds such legislation has continued to open--and reopen--are paramount. Poetry.