It was the absent one that kept her awake at night while the others slept peacefully, tucked up in their beds after another story, another sip of water, another kiss dropped on their little heads. Years later, it is the absent one that enters her dreams uninvited, calling voicelessly from another room, painting clumsily over the darkness with more darkness, unformed hands stretching out beyond her grasp. Joanna Chen’s poetry, essays and literary translations have been published most recently by Guernica, Narratively, Poetry International, Asymptote, Poet Lore and Mantis, among others. Less Like a Dove was published by Shearsman Books in 2016. She writes a…
Author: Mom Egg Review
When El-Natan was born the room swelled like a balloon and filled Jerusalem, my wailing knocking on the walls, my open legs the valleys of the souk and he between them, the rope of our dual history unfurling him. At night his cradle was a lake and I was God and he a Noah’s ark of wild things he’d become— puppy, monkey, eagle, wolf, gazelle. His nails were all the necklaces I’d ever worn, his skin a pale reflection of God’s dreaming. And in the creases of his ears the Jordan river flowed with messages of war. The rustle of…
born not in a hospital not in a bedroom not a manger not ark and wicker not an alley not the backseat not a clinic not the White House born a Sabra— tender, tough in a porcelain bowl welcome home Akilah Mosley received a Master’s Degree from the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. She also attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Degree in Theater. Currently, Akilah lives in Israel and conducts ‘Performance Poetry’ workshops alongside writing and directing plays. She takes pleasure in telling…
Review by Hannah Cohen The Atari centipede, Paris, walkie-talkies, and poorly-drawn comics—Jessy Randall’s third collection Suicide Hotline Hold Music is as far-ranging in its topics and images of love, sex, and adulthood as it is humorous and wholly human. A unique aspect of this book is its inclusion of drawings; for the most part, these one-page comics provide an enjoyable, visual experience. A curator of special collections at Colorado College, Jessy Randall has published in Poetry, Rattle, Asimov’s, Mudfish, McSweeney’s and elsewhere; her first collection A Day in Boyland was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. A writer with…
Review by Barbara Ellen Sorensen To read Millicent Borges Accardi’s Only More So is to step into pools of lush, full waters only to be pulled under by currents almost unbearably swift. This is a “jump into frozen water” (75), which invariably requires a “ … cardinal leap of faith” (75). Accardi’s poetry has earned fellowships from the NEA, Fulbright, and the California Arts Council, among others. Only More So is first and foremost astoundingly brave poetry because it explores subjects such as oppression, violence, rape, ethnic cleansing, and breast cancer. Women, in particular and unequally, have had to bear…
Review by Christine Salvatore The Marine Corps ought not to permit marriage. A monastic order all the way. Married men make poor soldiers. If the government wanted you to have a wife, they’d issue you one. –Lt. Gen Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller This opening quote sets the tone for Lisa Stice’s first collection of poetry, Uniform, in which Stice contends that marriage to a Marine includes a third entity, the US Marine Corps. In fragmented language that could be right out of a treatise on warfare, we follow a young wife of a Marine Corps officer as she, much like…
Announcing new Mom Egg Review Online Editors Mom Egg Review is proud to welcome editors for several popular online features. Jennifer Martelli and Cindy Veach will edit our VOX MOM column, which publishes poetry, fiction, creative prose, craft discussions, and op/ed. pieces by individuals and curated groups. Ana C. H. Silva will be editing the Gallery section of featured artists, as well as a special section focusing on hybrid works. At the moment, featuring in these columns is by invitation, but submissions periods will be announced in the future. Contact for Vox Mom and Gallery Eds is [email protected]. They…
Praise for Bluewords Greening: Bluewords Greening is a book about motherhood—love and family and fear and failure and mini-ninjas. We observe a mother’s bewildering experiences with her son as the poems detail his diagnosis with a rare form of epilepsy and the “bluewords” that result from his aphasia. The speaker is in deep conversation with the son’s frustrated and often surprisingly beautiful lexicon; she’s also in conversation with the work of contemporary visual artists and the craft of printmaking and the twelfth-century visionary, St. Hildegard. Stewart-Nuñez’s music and skilled syntax and stubborn insistence on the beauty of the world—even…
News from the Mom Egg Review Community – Marge Piercy selected Rachel Hall’s Heirlooms for the G.S.Sharat Chandra Book Prize. BkMk Press at the University of Missouri-Kansas City published the linked collection in September 2016. Heirlooms begins in France in 1940 and follows a French Jewish family through the war and to America. It examines love and duty and the long reach of history. Joan Leotta: My new book, Summer in a Bowl, is out! This book tells of Rosa’s introduction to gardening and enjoyment of fresh vegetables by her Aunt Mary. When Rosa expresses sadness that summer has come to…