Bücher von Esteban Rodriguez

In Esteban Rodríguez's seventh collection, places both populated and barren become sources of contemplation as much as they do of uncertainty. With a voice that is lyrically bold but narratively focused, Rodriguez's speakers attempt to navigate purgatorial landscapes, cultural labyrinths of the past, and an array of spontaneous scenarios that occupy the always precarious present. Whether on a bus ride in a foreign city, near the scorched edge of an indifferent country, or during a surreal encounter with figures who aren't always what they proclaim to be, Limbolandia traverses the world in hopes of finding not only a new way of survival, but a safe path toward the truth.

Through lyric and narrative poems alike, the speaker of the poems in Crash Course attempts to understand the manner in which cultural traditions and expectations shape their understanding of the world. Watching a father patch up a truck ponders the effect of language across generations. A simple knock on the door provides a meditation on the immigrant experience, and the anxiety surrounding what it means to arrive with nothing in a different country. Other poems look at the complexity of familial relationships, dissecting specific moments that although appear mundane on the surface (shopping for items to put on layaway, barbecues, watching a cousin feed his pet snake), are - once fleshed out on the page - profound episodes that enlighten a labyrinth of memories.