Review: 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 are Cilento’s acceptance of herself as a lesbian, and her decision to adopt two boys, a bold move, especially as both children are African American. Cilento is of Italian descent, this 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.

Cilentro poignantly illustrates “The Facts” with what could be a genuine family photo: a little girl sits before a dollhouse, as though studying how to decorate and furnish it. Holiday dinners in Cilento’s family home are humorously described in “TV Dinner.” The food-laden table becomes a stage, everyone poised for comedy or drama – “only time would tell.” In this case, her grandmother in the “play” hits someone on the head with a serving spoon, an aunt faints into a plate of ravioli and her father reverts to a “storm of expletives.” These moments remain both amusing and recognizable.

Throughout, Cilento reveals her inner pain as she fights her feelings. The mysterious female appears first in a prose interlude, “Until She Comes” as an invader in Cilento’s dorm room, creeping in after her roommate is sound asleep, and talking to Cilento in whispers until they wind up together in bed. They cuddle, giggle and braid their arms together, safe in a world “that lives under the covers and in the silence of night.” A picture with this poem shows a piece of paper on which is scrawled, “The devil and God are raging inside me.” The relationship intensifies soon afterwards, invoking shock, when the night visitor accidentally or on purpose, touches the poet’s breast in the piece entitled “On Denial”:

Quick! What do I do? God, please tell me what to do!

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.

These short works tell a long life history with appropriate grit and grace. The words are well supported by the photos, but the illustrations in no way overwhelm these well-articulated and emotive gems. A lyrical memoir written in prose and verse, Snapshots has a universal message that will appeal to many readers.

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. It is this combination that makes Cilento’s voice so endearing, as well as inspiring, especially for those who have faced similar issues.

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.