Final Project: Tommy “Teebs” Pico and Art as a Platform for Native Voices - Sam

Tommy “Teebs” Pico is a writer known for his books IRL, Nature Poem, and Junk. He grew up on the Viejas Indian reservation of the Kumeyaay nation and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. Pico uses poetry to reconcile two identities that he has difficulty fitting together: “being a poor, queer kid from the rez, and being a pleasure-seeking, technology-addicted New Yorker who would rather chase the boys he meets on apps than think about centuries of pain passed from one generation to another.” He juxtaposes stories of lighthearted flirtations with really heavy stuff like friends wanting to commit suicide and historical trauma, and throughout his writing he struggles with guilt for having left the rez. When he first began writing, he stuck to romance but eventually became comfortable writing about issues like historical trauma.

In “Junk,” through his beautiful handle on language, he calls for change, saying “I’m descended from a group whose culture history language gods cosmology calendar stories government gait was capital ‘O’ Obliterated I’ll stop writing this when it stops happening.” I’ve heard multiple people express that they feel that the wave of activist writing is undermining the artistic value of poetry and stories, which I fundamentally disagree with. Pico is living proof that activist art can be just as, if not more poignant than stories without political tension. After all, most art has a message to send, so why would that message be less valid just because that message is political? Conflict is emotionally-charged and drives storytelling, and I think the time is ripe for more writers to address political and identity conflict through their work. As “Junk” continues, Pico begins to reflect more on the influence colonialism and loss of control has had in his life, in both broad and more personal ways. In the end, he seems to reach a sense of recognition and catharsis though, saying, “We call complication a knot A knotted life that doesn’t get to be undone Who here has a clear, linear rope? Denial! You have to love yr knots You have to shout them out Curate if need be Janet turns her knots into songs.” Reading Pico’s work has helped me reflect on my own literary exploration of identity and consider how writing about racial issues are perceived differently from more “neutral” stories. Regardless of its reception, I think writing is a really strong avenue for exploring identity because it’s an opportunity to have a conversation with yourself and has personally helped me better understand family tensions, the privileges and dangers of the model minority label, internalized racism, and more. Pico’s writing is courageous and powerful, and his ability to navigate such complicated and multi-generational pain through poetry is bringing Native voices to the mainstream in a new and striking way.