In 'Party Line,' Cuban American poet Kyle Carrero Lopez takes a stand

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Set us as preferred Cuban American poet Kyle Carrero Lopez first learned what sanctions were as a child — not as a political measure, but as a gendered one.In his poem “Sanctions,” he describes how his father, a surly Cuban refugee who worked as a DJ, laid out the terms of acceptable masculinity.“No dance class/no “girl toys”/don’t walk like that,” writes Carrero.

“His anthem, his law, hammered, hammered, into me.”The poem features in his debut book of poetry, “Party Line,” released in July by indie publisher Graywolf Press.As a gay, Black Cuban American, Carrero uses social etiquette as a springboard to critically examine how marginalized people learn to negotiate space — whether at a nightclub; in the stratified gay mecca of Fire Island; at a socialist magazine party; or in line for customs at the U.S.

border.He cites Black cultural figures like the queen of salsa Celia Cruz, American fashion journalist André Leon Talley, the late French singer and dancer Josephine Baker and political activist Assata Shakur as guiding lights.“There are two sides of me,” he told De Los.

“Between the party girl and the politico is Kyle Carrero Lopez.”Born in 1995 to Cuban parents in New Jersey, Carrero is now based in New York City, where he earned a master of fine arts in poetry at NYU and published his award-winning 2022 chapbook, “Muscle Memory.” He answered my phone call in South Carolina, while overlooking the Atlantic Ocean; his mother was on the precipice of getting married a second time.Carrero, already a poet, scholar, political organizer and nightlife host, would flaunt yet another title that weekend as wedding officiant.

“My work is naturally in conversation,” he explained.Many of the poems in “Party Line” came to Carrero after visiting Cuba for the first time in 2017, through the Cu...