(Kingston, WA: Two Sylvias Press, 2018) Appalachia has for decades served as a kind of internal American other, an amorphously defined place peopled by poorly drawn caricatures of whatever downtrodden stereotype happens to be en vogue. The popular imagination as … Continued
(Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017) Afaa Michael Weaver reaffirms the value and necessity of a worker’s poetics in his latest collection, Spirit Boxing. Here, work is not celebrated for its own sake (as Americans are wont to do) … Continued
(Cambridge, MA: Alice James Books, 2014) “I imagine a star. A clove bullet/ ripping through me.” This is one way to render the feeling—a massive nuclear reaction; an intensity of flavor that parts flesh—of losing yourself in Sally Wen Mao’s … Continued
(New York, NY: Black Ocean, 2013) As a well-bred, attention-deficient, “multitasking” reader, I always have at least two books open, bookmarked, and in progress at any given moment. It’s not simply about having variety, or feeding different parts of the … Continued