Limbolandia, poems by Esteban Rodríguez
In Esteban Rodríguez’s seventh collection, places both populated and barren become sources of contemplation as much as they do of uncertainty. With a voice that is lyrically bold but narratively focused, Rodriguez’s speakers attempt to navigate purgatorial landscapes, cultural labyrinths of the past, and an array of spontaneous scenarios that occupy the always precarious present. Whether on a bus ride in a foreign city, near the scorched edge of an indifferent country, or during a surreal encounter with figures who aren’t always what they proclaim to be, Limbolandia traverses the world in hopes of finding not only a new way of survival, but a safe path toward the truth.
Esteban Rodríguez was raised in the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexican border. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, he worked as a barista and a writing tutor before becoming a high school teacher and counselor. A graduate of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s MFA program, Rodríguez’s poetry and essays seek to document his Mexican American experience of life along the border, looking at the complexity of familial relationships and dissecting specific moments that although appear mundane on the surface, are—once fleshed out on the page—profound episodes that enlighten a labyrinth of memories. With a clear voice, humor, and great empathy, he explores questions of belonging, and contemplates past surroundings with a curiosity and an open-mindedness that expands on the human condition. Rodríguez is author of seven collections of poetry, Dusk & Dust (Hub City Press 2019), Crash Course (Saddle Road Press 2019), In Bloom (Stephen F. Austin State University Press 2020), (Dis)placement (Skull + Wind Press 2020), The Valley (Sundress Publications 2021), Ordinary Bodies (wordwest press 2022), and Lotería (Texas Review Press 2023), as well as the essay collection Before the Earth Devours Us (Split/Lip Press 2021). In addition, he is the interviews editor for the EcoTheo Review, senior book reviews editor for Tupelo Quarterly, and associate poetry editor for AGNI. His poems and reviews have appeared in Colorado Review, Gettysburg Review, New England Review, The Rumpus, West Branch, and elsewhere. He currently lives in south Texas.