The Orange Spotlight

After reading Overcome, poetry by Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, with photography by Cynthia Etheridge, I wanted more. I wanted more insight as to how this beautiful, haunting work came into existence. I wanted to know how the collaboration worked. I wanted to know if the poetry was inspired by the striking black and white photography, or if it was the other way around. I wanted to know whose idea this collaboration was. I wanted to call Berriozaba, or Etheridge, or even Bill Shute, the publisher of the poetry chapbook (Kendra Steiner Editions), and drill them with these questions. The first question I would ask would be, “Drinks or coffee,” and with the answer to that, the unveiling would begin.

The more I re-read, and thought about Overcome, the more I realized that it was about the not knowing that made this chapbook special. The chapbook’s strength was found in the mystery and the eerie feeling that the poetry and photographs created. The quiet interplay that existed between the poetry and the photography seemed like a private dance that the reader was witnessing from the balcony of a haunted house; not saying a word for fear that it would all disappear like smoke if questions were actually uttered.

The imagery that the poetry tickles out of the readers head is both dark and beautiful. From “Open Invitation”:

The motionless

lizard hides under a rock

and the dead bird

is through with singing.

The ghosts hide in the shade.

They hide from the sun.

The photo that accompanies this poem does not illustrate the poem, but instead indirectly compliments it with its lizard like view of the clouds in the sky and the thinly populated branches of a tree.

As I read and re-read, a mysterious story emerged through the progress of Berriozabal’s poems. It reminded me of Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology, where the collection of various narrators’ tales seem to build upon each other, creating a puzzle for the reader to piece together. Whether Berriozabal intended for this continuous narrative to emerge is unclear. Maybe it’s only in my mind that these ghosts materialized from the pages of this chapbook and came together to haunt the same world. What is clear is that the ghosts are definitely there, and rather than dissipate with each reading, they seemed to have grown.

I may never know how Overcome came to be. What I do know is that Berriozabal’s poetry and Etheridge’s photography combine to create a very powerful reading experience, one that tugged at the shadows in the corners of my mind every time I opened the chapbook and read. Overcome is an beautiful work of art. Everyone involved should be proud of what they have accomplished.

Overcome is collection of nine poems and seven photographs available through Kendra Steiner Editions. (Review by new contributor Samuel Ahote)