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A review by chrismarnone
Guillotine: Poems by Eduardo C. Corral
4.0
Corral's newest collection is hyper-focused on the story of immigration, particularly the horrors of trying to cross into the United States from the south. The poems are rarely overtly polemic, showing readers the horrors of the crossing itself rather than telling readers what they should think about immigration into the US. These very horrors beg readers to understand what immigrants are willing to endure for the promise of America, even the America of 2020.
The personas and tones of the poems vary, showing different aspects of the experience, but the horror is nonstop. As far as form, there are several nonce forms in used that repeat. I didn't notice any traditional forms, though I'm not versed in LatinX forms of poetry, so there could be some there. There were a few instances of overlapping text, more like word-collage, which are still readable and give a sense of pressure and confined energy. The use of Spanish works very well even for non-Spanish speakers. Mostly. There are a few instances that are fully in Spanish, making them unreadable without Google Translate (which will, of course, not be fully accurate and lose the poetics). But these instances are so few, they don't hold the book back, and perhaps their inaccessibility is purposeful.
The collection is powerful, no doubt. It captures a slice of the immigrant experience, never overstating itself or asserting that it is more than it is. Definitely worth a read.
The personas and tones of the poems vary, showing different aspects of the experience, but the horror is nonstop. As far as form, there are several nonce forms in used that repeat. I didn't notice any traditional forms, though I'm not versed in LatinX forms of poetry, so there could be some there. There were a few instances of overlapping text, more like word-collage, which are still readable and give a sense of pressure and confined energy. The use of Spanish works very well even for non-Spanish speakers. Mostly. There are a few instances that are fully in Spanish, making them unreadable without Google Translate (which will, of course, not be fully accurate and lose the poetics). But these instances are so few, they don't hold the book back, and perhaps their inaccessibility is purposeful.
The collection is powerful, no doubt. It captures a slice of the immigrant experience, never overstating itself or asserting that it is more than it is. Definitely worth a read.