Pilgrims: A Love Story

“Jude Law and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, ‘dusty and dry and alone,’ ‘their minds a certain kind of wild,’ light out for the territories in a red Edsel, in search of something, but find nothing, and so realize their only recourse is to ‘make a something of a nothing,’ specifically a something which can accommodate Las Vegas, candle tricks, Emily Dickinson, and a ghost town ‘shrine of We-Don’t-Know.’ Beitelman takes us on a pilgrimage both sensual and metaphysical, both comic and tragic, warning us against ‘shimmer, shine, and show’ while delivering bushels of each.” ‘
-Joel Brouwer

Beitelman’s voice is sure as we navigate a roadmap between oasis and urban beehive, clarifications on loneliness, aloneness, and solitude. The ‘pilgrims’ in this sequence desire a fresh authenticity (of self and in relationship), but are finally left only to stare: ‘…There’s no one left but / You to watch You now’ amid the ‘shimmer, shine, and show.’ Mirrors. A disorienting existential pose surrounded by street-talk of the street-smart. Pilgrims: A Love Story draws the reader to the tough and simple sheen of language, and to its ever-questioning narrative. The old tale of ‘wait and see’ echoing once more.” ‘
-Katherine Soniat