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Book Review:
“Back to the Twilight Zone: A Puerto Rican Colony in Buffalo, NY”
A NOTE FROM THE TWILIGHT ZONE
By Steve Peraza, Ph.D.
I write to you as an Afro-Latino in Buffalo, NY, seeking light in the twilight zone of my life. I found a glimmer of hope in the poetry of Alberto Cappas, author of Back to the Twilight Zone, a poetry book that has changed my outlook on the city and the path I’m on…
Mr. Alberto O. Cappas is a poet, writer, journalist, and public servant, whose major contribution, as I see it, is writing and publishing meaningful verses, while creating platforms for other writers like me, who believe their life’s work, too, is in the literary arts. Cappas is from New York City like me, a transplant who put down roots in the City of Good Neighbors. His roots have blossomed into works of art like his newsletter, “The Buffalo Latino Village,” and his book, “Back to the Twilight Zone”, which I review below.
In my tumultuous journey of self-discovery, “Back to the Twilight Zone” has gifted me great peace of mind. To begin, I identify with a verse Cappas wrote in “Construction I”: “God is the artist. / The universe is the canvas” and, further, that “[I am] the painting on exhibit.” In these words, I find hope, because the god of my understanding has encouraged me to rebuild myself, even after my demons convinced me to explode, scattering my billion bits in the Buffalo wind.
In Buffalo, I have had good neighbors – when I wasn’t hungry. As of late, however, I have been peckish from poverty, and my neighbors have changed. They’re still good people, but they’re not the ones claiming to do good. I began my journey on the peaks of progressivism, but I’ve fallen deeply, right into a valley where the people, who look like me, seek scraps from city troughs. At pantries and food giveaways, I have made friends, but I’ve seen few of the ‘good neighbors’ I once knew as colleagues. In the classrooms and offices where I worked, folks remain well fed on food and ego.
In his poem “Ruse,” Cappas noted that Buffalo’s good neighbors are often “enticing a desire to acquire a piece of the cake without looking back at the misfortune.” I know too well what he means. The “City of Good Neighbors” trope can, in fact, be a ruse: “In this city the progressive movement is on vacation making love to their promotion.” This may not be true of all “good neighbors,” but it is true for many. (I was one of them!) The “good neighbors” don’t show up where the poor get fed
Lest one think this is a book of critique, allow me to conclude with verses of hope. “Back to the Twilight Zone” is not a punch to the eye – it’s more like ice to reduce the swelling. “Si Se Puede” is one of those poems I read to treat bumps and bruises. “You are no advanced spirit,” Cappas wrote, “only a terrified body with a mind refusing to release the comfort zone.” As if he heard the questions that followed – the doubts I have about my capacity to persist – Cappas wrote: “You are an unbelievable work in progress in danger of misinterpretation.”
Do not misinterpret me: Back to the Twilight Zone gives me joy, hope, and inspiration. For me, “hope” is like a woman I love; she is the craft of writing; and she feeds my soul. In “Don’t Be Afraid to Undress Her,” Cappas encourages me to “[a]llow [my] mind to make love to the beautiful body.” I yearn to inspire with my own writing – hopefully the same way Cappas has inspired me – “Igniting the mind, bringing light to the words.”
If you are in search of light and hope in a dark world, “Back the Twilight Zone” is for you. Thank you, Alberto, for all that you do.
https://www.amazon.com/
