Snapshots: Say Cheese! The World is Watching by Cara Cilento

Poems and short prose pieces are mated with vibrant photos in the emotive collection Snapshots: Say Cheese! The World is Watching by debut writer Cara Cilento.

The two dominant themes in the collection are Cilento’s acceptance of herself as a lesbian, and her decision to adopt two boys, a bold move as both children are African American. Cilento is white, of Italian descent, which is made clear as she describes messages (“The Facts”) from her upbringing:

I was made from two parents

who went to school to get out of the ghetto

who tried to forget their last name had too many vowels in it

Meanwhile, a certain woman keeps moving in and out of her life (“On Denial”):

I said it. I love her. I’m in love with her.

When the poet is finally able to openly unite with her female partner, boldly display her Gay Pride t-shirt and encourage her son to don a Black Lives Matter tee, and when one of her boys declares,”…You’re black on the inside, Mom,” it seems her life has come to full fruition.

At times the collection veers too close into prose being converted into poetry, and for this reason the prose pieces occasionally feel less stilted than the poems. However, the imagery in each leaps from the page, flavored by the author’s unapologetic attitude – filled with pathos, but also confidence.

Pushed by her family to “assimilate,” speech therapist Cilento has found her place within and outside the mainstream, eloquently sharing her struggles and triumphs through her clear poetic gifts.