Party Line: Poems

by Kyle Carrero Lopez

A debut collection that examines US-Cuba tensions, transnational Black identity, and revolutionary gatherings

Kyle Carrero Lopez’s electrifying debut collection centers three interconnected social life, US-Cuba relations, and the lives of Black people in the United States and Cuba. Through familial, satirical, and geopolitical lenses, Party Line considers how countries―and people―wield power over those they have othered.

The collection features a series meditating on tensions embedded in party spaces. Carrero Lopez challenges assumptions that these spaces are apolitical or purely escapist, revealing unexpected connections between individuals’ actions and those of the state. His work expands bridges between US and Cuban art by developing an urgent poetics around the material conditions of the US embargo and challenging whitewashed images of Cuban Americans in the US imagination.

Alternating between humor and lyric severity, playfulness and political critique, these poems negotiate contradiction with linguistic dexterity and critical consciousness, proving that political poetry can be both serious and joyously alive.

Genres: Poetry, Queer

88 pages, Paperback

Published July 7, 2026

Reviews

[Ira Madison]

Essential reading for queer New Yorkers

[AJ]

A 3.5 collection of poems, some of which resonated deeply with me. I appreciated the poet's perspective Afro-Cuban queer person navigating rooms where one can be both invisible and highly visible. As someone who does not regularly traverse NYC, the collection also adds to the mythos and my ongoing wondering whether it lives up (and down) to the hype it receives. In poems about US-Cuban relations, Carrero Lopez offers historical knowledge that I was unaware of (the Cuban Democracy Act?!) alongside more nuanced portrayal of the island nation.

Overall, I enjoyed the following poems the most:
What I Should Have Said at Your Memorial: A loving ode to a friend who has transitioned on
Chalkboard: I received this as one of the collection's most honest poems, though I can hold the subjectiveness of me feeling that way as a first-time reader. I believe there is honesty throughout the collection but this just felt real. /i>
Statement of Purpose: a love poem to one's enthusiasm and love of having times, also to friendship
From An Agnostic: Thoughtful reflection on the role of spirituality, especially those that ties us home
Torricelli: Brief, direct, informative

[Dani Janae]

I loved this book. Rarely have I come across a poetry collection this fun, this queer, one that revels in both the triumphs and complexities of both Black and queer identities. I’ve long been interested in Cuba-US relations and reading the work of Cuban or Cuban American poets has been so illuminating. Great read that I definitely recommend!

[Viktor]

This collection made me feel uniquely aware of my consciousness, like a balloon that trails and witnesses an acquaintance going about their day intermingling with friends, family, and people in their community while addressing the good and bad of gay club scenes and the all-too-timely discussions of US-Cuban relations. I loved it!

[LWood]

This poetry is very flat and interested only in telling you how you should feel about certain political subject matter. I didn’t enjoy it. It lacked almost everything that a work of art should have…artistry, beauty, something to contribute. Incredibly disappointing.

[Juan A. Ramirez]

genuinely lovely and funny, and conveys its perceptive truths with no airs, just voice and talent.

also just a great fuckin read if you're queer and caribbean in NYC (or anywhere!) ((or anyone!!)

[Asafe Pereira]

A generational genius, canon in and of himself

[The_J]

Three good quotes from Masters, but this quote really sums up the collection:

"who gives a Vulgar, Proto-Indo-European fuck?"

Apparently not the people who published this work