Flux is a collection of poetry published in October 2017, written by Orion Carloto. The latter has been known for several years on the web thanks to its YouTube videos that accumulate a few million views. The publication of Flux was his ultimate dream; dream come true, much to his delight.
Orion Carloto.
Don't get too close; I'll turn you into poetry.
A cathartic collection
Flux is a collection of sentimental poetry. The author tells us in the preface that she wrote these poems in her moments of deep depression and during her peaks of sadness. During the 175 pages of this collection, we quickly understand that the author is talking about the same person all the time. The poems follow one another and we follow a logical progression of the author's feelings in the face of the terrible breakup. She shares with us her feelings, her new life without this loved one. Sometimes the poems are addressed to him directly, sometimes she simply remembers the moments shared with him. As a reader, we can easily identify with his words because we have probably all experienced this kind of situation. Words go straight to our hearts. Thus, Carloto manages to successfully absorb the reader in the pages of this collection, which, although it is very personal, has a universal theme: a lost love from which one does not know how to detach oneself. What we particularly appreciated was the sweetness of the poems. Despite the sadness conveyed through the pages, the words of the poems, full of vulnerability, make reading light and soft. As if the tears shed while writing these poems were pearls that would have been impregnated in the pages of the book.
You are a dream and I don't want to wake up.
Modern poetry
This collection is poetry in prose, and mixes drawings, texts and polaroids. The drawings (made by Katie Roberts) illustrate the author's words wonderfully. It is very pleasant to wander through this book which is aesthetically very pleasant to look at. Some pages contain only a few words while others contain very long poems, hence the rather modern side. We deeply feel that this collection is almost like thoughts put in order: at some times the author could no longer think and leaves blank pages, while at other times, her brain thought too much and so she shares with us her doubts, reflections, and moments of sadness.
Very affordable texts
Orion Carloto's poems may not please everyone. Indeed, the style is very simple to read. It is not at all the kind of hermetic poetry full of figures of speech. Reading Flux, we simply feel like we are reading like a beautifully written "diary". This did not bother us during our reading, but it is better to specify it because it could put off more than one. We will put you excerpts below to give you an idea of the contents of the collection.
Ps: the collection is not yet translated into French unfortunately, but if you can read a simple enough English, you can totally read Flux.
In short, the story that Orion Carloto offers us through Flux is both beautiful and sad. The author shares with us her deepest sadness from which she will draw strength. The author, openly bisexual, also shares some poems about her first feelings of love for a woman. Flux therefore allows an important visibility of bisexuality: the author mourns the boy she loved but reconstructs her feelings by meeting a woman.
Hoping that this made you want to read Flux, we wish you good and beautiful readings!
