David Gate takes inspiration from all corners of 21st-century life lived under the extractive systems of late-stage capitalism in the poems and essays of A Rebellion of Care, a moving and necessary collection for any reader feeling the heaviness of current events. Gate is an immigrant and Appalachian homesteader, and questions of belonging sit alongside his observations of the natural world, as in "The Good We Can Imagine," which compares planting a kale seed to "throwing a pebble/ at a panzer tank." Pop-culture references abound, some specific ("Less panic, more disco!/ Less cold, more play/... However/ More joy, less division") and some general (a poem titled "Twerk of Art"). He writes about writing and creativity, faith in the face of weaponized religion, gender roles, love, community, and what it takes to share such small joys when "very little in our world seems right these days."
Gate's commitment to joy is not steeped in toxic positivity or unwitting devotion to finding the good. "I cannot keep practicing wellness in a hellscape," he notes in the collection's introduction. Instead, he invites readers to embrace joy--as rebellion, in one another, in intentional community built "of absolute fucking weirdos," in action--that exists alongside the complexities, violence, and inequities of the world and refuses to give up or give in. "I believe that truth still hums with possibility," Gate writes. "And saying something true in a world awash with lies/ is the first act of rebellion." A Rebellion of Care promises to inspire and inflame, its words a soul-soothing offering of care found in the beauty and vision of community Gate conjures. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer