Pumpjack

OW 003: Pumpjack by Rosie Stockton

What emerges when two fields are put next to each other without any legible relation? If common sense urges us to step out of harm’s way, Pumpjack is born from combustible ecologies and political vulnerabilities to reframe danger via devotion. Following a Blakean descent into the Central Valley oil fields and corporate Champagne Rooms, Stockton twists through slurred conversation on extraction, consent, and labor. We must insist on never following leaders, direct our scams at the state, and know that the gift-giver is the lucky one.

Rosie Stockton is a poet living in Los Angeles. They are the author of Permanent Volta (Nightboat Books 2021).

tonight i work

to hate adam’s order

in order to fill our

little room, yes i eat

to strip his state

pockets perfectly