Through a Glass, Darkly: A Literary Analysis of Armando Heredia’s “The System Says”
In an era of curated social media feeds and algorithmic influence, the question of what defines our value has never more potent. Armando Heredia’s poetry collection, The System Says, arrives as a vital, unsettling mirror held up to both society and the self. It is a work that masterfully intertwines the external critique of societal systems with a brutal, internal excavation of personal hypocrisy, creating a cohesive and powerful examination of modern identity.
The Central Theme: The Anatomy of a System
At its core, The System Says is a dissection of “The System”—an amorphous yet all-powerful entity that encompasses capitalism, social hierarchy, and the unspoken rules of status and value. Heredia doesn’t just rage against this machine; he meticulously documents its mechanics.
The poem “How Upper Echelon of You” attacks the illusion of status with scathing irony. The image of the elite “squinting from the glare / Of all your golden cows” is a brilliant modern metaphor for idolatry of wealth. Heredia reduces the “upper crust” to mere “flakes held together By their dough,” arguing that their cohesion is not based on character or merit, but on capital alone. The repeated, mocking refrain—“How upper echelon of you”—is a verbal eye-roll, a weaponized phrase that exposes the performative absurdity of social climbing.
This critique is expanded in “What they want,” which explores how the system consumes individuality. The poignant story of the sister whose hair is loved, then cut off and colored from a bottle, serves as a perfect metaphor for commodification. The system doesn’t want you; it wants what it can mold you into. The poem’s relentless, chanting conclusion—“Commodification / Capitalization”—functions like a hammer driving home a nail. It removes the complex facade to reveal the brutal, simple transaction underneath all interaction: “It’s not about who you are / But what they can do with you.”
The Introspective Turn: The System Within
What elevates this collection from a simple protest to a profound literary work is its inward turn. The system isn’t just out there; it’s internalized. This is most powerfully explored in “Dirty Filthy Heart,” the collection’s masterstroke and emotional core.
The poem begins with an external judgment of a homeless man, deemed filthy and out of place. The narrator, confessing to being part of “the elite,” casts this judgment. But in a stunning volta, the gaze turns inward: “Then I was reminded of this heart of mine / That grows like a tangled mess of vines.” The narrator realizes the true filth isn’t on the outside but within—a heart filled with “lust, the malice and my narcissism / Pride and arrogance, my own bitter prison.”
The act of kicking his own heart “out on the street” is a breathtaking act of self-condemnation. By declaring his own soul the “most raggedy thing you’ll ever meet,” Heredia makes a profound argument: that our outward participation in systems of judgment and hierarchy is a direct reflection of our own internal brokenness. We reject in others what we fear and refuse to acknowledge in ourselves.
Literary Devices and Structure
Heredia employs several effective devices to convey his message:
- Irony and Sarcasm: The title phrase “How Upper Echelon of You” is dripping with ironic praise, immediately setting a tone of critical observation.
- Metaphor: The collection is rich with them. The “golden cows” of idolatry, the “tangled mess of vines” representing a sinful heart, and the entire concept of “Art is wildlife management” from a previous collection all show a poet thinking deeply in figurative language.
- Repetition and Refrain: The obsessive repetition of “Obviously” in “Dirty Filthy Heart” mirrors the relentless, dehumanizing judgment of society. The chanting of “Commodification / Capitalization” in “What they want” mimics the grinding, repetitive nature of the system itself, beating the listener into submission.
- Contrast: The collection is built on contrasts: clean vs. filthy, elite vs. ragged, internal vs. external, who you are vs. what they can do with you. This structural tension is what gives the poems their enduring power.
Why This Collection Matters
The System Says is important because it offers more than just criticism; it offers a diagnosis. It identifies the illness not just in our institutions but in the human condition itself. It’s a collection for anyone who has ever felt reduced to a product, a number, or a status symbol, while also challenging that same person to confront their own complicity.
It is a punk rock sermon in poetic form, refusing to let the reader off the hook. It forces us to ask: Whose system are we following? And what filthy, beautiful, authentic parts of ourselves have we had to lock away to survive within it? In holding up that mirror, Armando Heredia hasn’t just written poems; he’s created a crucial commentary for our times.