“Poems lost under words, I cannot seem to find.” 

Through photographs, poetry, prose and a short story, Orion Carloto invites readers to reminisce in the nostalgic and embrace the forgotten, find solace in the present and decipher the intangible future. 

Carloto first launched her literary career with “Flux,” a collection of poetry and prose for the internet generation, covering themes such as mental health and heartbreak through exploring her unknown. 

Along with her active social media presence, Carloto has been featured in publications such as Playboy, Interior Design Magazine and Rookie Mag. She also collaborates with aesthetic brands including Gucci Beauty, Margiela Fragrances and Calvin Klein. Once upon a time, Carloto was even nominated for Top LGBT Influencer at the 2018 British LGBT Awards. But Toto, we’re not in England anymore.

“Film for Her” reflects the modern fanciful undertone of Los Angeles subculture. Droning buzz of 5:00 o’clock traffic feels blurred and almost muted with Carloto’s writing. A sense of balmy nostalgia mixes in with leftover ash when readers reunite either side of the canvas case. Pick it up again later on, and readers question if they had paired their cigarette with a glass of wine.

Now let’s circle back to the vineyard.

Orion Carloto found herself in Georgia and now visualizes herself on YouTube. Her American dream once nurtured in its own pasture is now milked into an imagined book of real people, places and memories captured on film. 

I found myself flipping through cardstock pages bound in canvas asking myself what makes a poet. Hell, if she can I can.

Film photography isn’t ritz and glitz; it’s timeless and romantic—the ideal complement to Carloto’s writing. In “Film for Her,” much like a visual diary, words and images are intertwined in a book perfect for both gift and tabletop. A somewhat pseudo-memoir, the intricacy of the film clippings felt detached and more like garnish rather than seasoning. 

Carloto uses dynamic prose to fabricate each poem, which feel closer to diary entries than poetic language, leaving both sentences and readers open-ended. She attempts to balance poetry and art to form some kind of collection that lacks consistency and feels overwhelmed with hybrid nuance. 

In essence, Carloto looked within–writing her aspirations and past while picturing her personal life. All in all, the writing itself has a saturated overtone, leaking potential complexity out of her poems.

Much like her Instagram posts and Tumblr girl cantor, “Film for Her” is the perfect aesthetic addition to her feed. It influences young girls in suburbia to question their own femininity and shielded childhood. 

“Film for Her” produces itself as modern balladry when really it’s a printed prosaic. Emerald font and a grayscale portrait depicting Carloto as nothing more than a girl with a camera. One might ask if Carloto even likes the color green.