Por Siempre

by José Olivarez, Antonio Salazar

Photojournalist Tony Salazar has a poet’s intuition for images that echo beyond themselves and constellate a narrative.

Guns, tattoos, pit bulls, and cars appear alongside a tender aubade, a couple holding hands, a baby bathing in a kitchen sink; landscapes and skylines in Phoenix and Los Angeles show palm trees and messy garages; long white socks and acrylic nails of younger generations meet the smiles and traditions of elders. In a society that would rather disappear or ignore its own grittier dimensions, Salazar’s work is both a refusal to be silenced and a love letter to the communities that sing, dance, live, and love, in their own beautiful and dangerous ways.

Alongside Salazar’s powerful visual narrative, a series of poems by José Olivarez appear throughout the book. Each poem “speaks” in its own way—to, of, with, and beyond the subjects of Salazar’s photos—with humor, honesty, and compassion. These artists together in Por Siempre are a force: expanding and lifting each other’s best parts, as those in sincere and caring communities often do.

Genres: Poetry, Photography

120 pages, Hardcover

First published December 6, 2022

About the author

José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. It was named a top book of 2018 by NPR and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he is co-editing the forthcoming anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. He is the co-host of the poetry podcast, The Poetry Gods and a recipient of fellowships from CantoMundo, Poets House, the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, & the Conversation Literary Festival. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. In 2018, he was awarded the first annual Author and Artist in Justice Award from the Phillips Brooks House Association and named a Debut Poet of 2018 by Poets & Writers. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Shannon (That's So Poe) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, tender photos and poems, celebrating daily life and existence.

[Nikolai Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you only buy one photography book a year, make it this one! (It's awesome and it comes with some great poems from Jose Olivarez too)!

[Wynn Y. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book after a friend recommended it in one of my classes. With The second Trump administration and its hatred towards immigrants, I needed to read something to mitigate that; to feel like I could see the beauty of my own community. And just as my friend had said when she recommended it--it delivered.

This book is a beautifully earnest and raw look into the Latine community, and the simple ways we find joy, community, and hold tradition in our hearts. The poetry is written from a third-person perspective-- "the poem thinks" and "the poem says"--which lends itself to a wonderful narration style through the prose. You see the care and love with which they were all written as well as the way the photography is skillfully interspersed, and as a Latine individual, it all brought back my own nostalgia and memories of my own experiences in a way that genuinely almost brought me to tears reading.

For anyone looking for a small dose of hope, joy, nostalgia, and memories through this time when our people are so quickly (and wrongfully) demonized and dehumanized--this is the read for you. Short but beautiful read.

[Sandra Del Rio]

"but every cartel show is about colonialism. off screen, American presidents clap at how their policies turn us Shakespearean.
...
americans love cartel shows because they haven't learned the names of their own monsters haunting daylight."

several double-takes on the photos, subjects blurred/concealed by their own intimacy and generosity, subjects whose gazes make the viewer present in the images, the photographer present. The photos are striking and beautiful, and every line of Olivarez's poems sharp, loving.

[Sigrid A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jose Olivarez is one of my favorite poets, and Por Siempre is a collaboration with the photographer Antonio Salazar. Olivarez’s accessible and powerful poems stand next to Salazar’s intimate and arresting images of the Latine community in Phoenix. The mix is spellbinding. I read it through once this evening, but it’s a book that I’ll return to more than once.

Thanks to Haymarket Books for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Beck Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

José Olivarez is one of the most phenomenal poets I've ever had the honor of reading (also wrote Citizen Illegal which I read not too long ago) & Antonio Salazar's photography felt so tender. It's never the case that I genuinely adore every single poem in a book. And the photographs reminded me of what I've seen from my papi's life in Mexico. Overall an amazing duo to create such a gorgeous book.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"... it's hard
to hold a grudge from the ground. when we suffer,
we want a witness. the secret to taking a punch
is to accept it. ..."

Yes yes. The photos slowed me, the poems held me.
Together they let me see people being people.

[Oscar Gómez · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a bad book by any means. I do like a number of the different prints inside, and I like a couple of the poems, it just seems lacking in terms of poetry. It wasn't my favorite on that front, but I did appreciate it for what it was.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m don’t really have much of an artistic eye for judging poetry or photo essays, but it was an interesting look into the experience of Latin Americans in the United States.

[Dave]

The pictures are great and all, but reading this book kind of made me feel like a voyeur.

[Adri · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

CWs: Some images of guns/weapons, and some references to gun violence

This is a very short book, so I'll keep it brief: this book is an entire experience. It's nine parts photography to one parts poetry, but I think it absolutely works *because* of that balance.

I think this photo book is an incredible marriage of visual storytelling and written storytelling. Salazar's photography and Olivarez's poetry exist on the same wavelength. They're two parts of the same universe. They have the same vibe, the same tone, the same scope, they're excavated from similar places, and so the transition from visual poetry to written poetry feels natural and feels seamless.

It's hard to describe, but this book made me understand what it feels like to *hear* a photograph. I felt like these images were speaking entire stories in and of themselves. I heard what they were telling me.

There was a distinct emotion and story that was being communicated to me as a viewer, and I think the inclusion of poetry only enhances that experience, because it's just enough lyricism to help guide your thoughts as you continue taking in the visual components. Like I said, it was just a beautiful artistic marriage of what might seem like two completely unrelated mediums.

To me, Salazar's photography is the star of the show here. It slightly overpowers the verses, just because it has such a distinct identity and comes from such a strong point of view. It could really stand on its own, but again I still appreciate the poetry for what it adds.

That said, if you can get your hands on this book, I think it definitely provides a reading experience worth having.