TRANSLATED BY ROBIN MYERS (Rochester, NY: Open Letter Books, 2020) “My pen is also a gun that wants to blow up the monovocal, monotonous realities imposed on us by capitalism. I don’t think it’s worth living a life like that; … Continued
(North Adams, MA: Tupelo Press, 2021) I was first introduced to the brilliance of Robert Wrigley’s work through his poem “Ode to My Boots,” from Anatomy of Melancholy and Other Poems. In this poem, Wrigley’s narrator draws on a long … Continued
(New York: Persea Books, 2020) By middle-age, youth is a private letter tucked inside an envelope. No matter what emotions it stirs by looking back over it, the very fact of its presence makes one thing clear: We each … Continued
(North Adams, MA: Tupelo Press, 2021) In her stunning debut collection, Music for Exile, Nehassaiu deGannes acts as a symphonic or choral conductor, deftly incorporating a multitude of voices, themes, and structures from Kamau Brathwaite, Jay Wright, Gwendolyn Brooks, the … Continued
Books discussed in this review: The Language of My Captor (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2017) Sometimes I Never Suffered (New York: FSG, 2020) The Gilded Auction Block (New York: FSG, 2019) As a first-generation white American, I have … Continued
(Wyncote, PA: Split/Lip Press, 2021) A glance down the table of contents of The Part That Burns: A Memoir in Fragments, by Jeannine Ouellette, immediately shows the reader how Ouellette has chosen to organize her work. Here we see … Continued
(Winston-Salem, NC: C&R Press) “Why would anyone find the train schedules interesting when it is possible to learn about astronomy.” – Kristina Marie Darling, “Orpheus Really Loved that Girl,” Dark Horse Kristina Marie Darling’s collection In the Room of Persistent … Continued
(Colombus, OH: Two Dollar Radio, 2021) I have read the book to beat this year. Melanie Finn’s latest novel, The Hare, follows Rosie Monroe, an art school student living on her own in New York City in the 1980s, as … Continued
(Edmonds, WA: Ravenna Press, 2021) In Lord Baltimore, poet Peter Ramos offers a dark vision of mid-to-late twentieth-century America as a lonely urban and sub-urban, post-industrial wasteland. The poems, named for Cecil Calvert, the 18th-century patron saint of Baltimore, teem … Continued
Two Californias (C&R Press. 2019) Sunsphere (BlazeVOX. 2019) Andrew Farkas and Robert Glick, both fiction writers, speak here about their books, Two Californias and Sunsphere. Through a conversation that took place over e-mail, the two discuss non-traditional narratives, hyper-objects, as well as formal … Continued
(North Adams, MA: Tupelo Press, 2020) “How young were my boys when I moved them to a town, actually not even a town but a hamlet situated inside a town that would, within months, become the site of the largest … Continued
(Denver, CO: Clash Books. 2019) In an age where sprays and sprays of digital and streaming media envelop us in bright blooms and the rich scents of reality, poetry may not serve social change as much as it desires to … Continued
(San Francisco, CA: Outpost19. 2020) Imagine the world going silent. All cars and buses, trains, subways, and planes stop in their lanes and patterns. Tiny particles drifting quietly through the air slowly and then pause, waiting. Even you are still. … Continued
(Edmonds, WA: Ravenna Press 2021) Raven with huge paws and a brown snout. Boots with an active tongue and a fluffy tail. Bird the husky mix who “sings.” Spiff. Doodle. Elle. These are but a few of the delightful dog … Continued
(North Adams, MA: Tupelo Press/Leapfolio 2020) In a slim paperbound volume, which sports a pale blossom on its rain-colored cover — reminiscent of Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” — poet and oncologist Matthew Mumber’s thirty-nine poems offer a … Continued
(Kenmore, NY: BlazeVOX Books 2019) Wade Stevenson’s Going Head to Head is a book-length poem that takes the head as its central theme and uses it as a way to explore various states of being — from the metaphysical to … Continued
(Cleveland, OH: Cleveland State Poetry Center 2020) Lauren Shapiro’s second poetry collection, Arena, deals with a father’s attempted suicide and its traumatic aftereffects. These poems move back and forth between lyric and prose modes as the speaker seeks to bring … Continued
Authors Katie Nolan and H.L. Hix, both philosophers, speak here about their recent releases, The Gospel according to H.L. Hix and Confessions of a Hobo’s Daughter. Through a conversation that took place during this past election season, they touch on care and … Continued
(McLean, IL: Dalkey Archive Press 2020) Toward. The word looks odd by itself, untethered from what’s behind, not yet having arrived at that which lies ahead. This untethered state is often mistakenly attributed to poetry and poets — it’s accompanied … Continued
(Seattle, WA: Red Mountain Press, 2020) Donald Platt’s new poetry collection One Illuminated Letter of Being is a tribute to his dead mother Martha, whom he desperately wants back. Closure is a myth; we are unending, ever-evolving, always reshaping the … Continued