Review by Barbara Ellen Sorensen In her haunting book, Lock Her Up, Tina Parker switches effortlessly between writing persona poems, concrete poems, and epistolary verses, as well as transforming medical forms based on real-life response into poetic renderings. My only criticism is that at the end of the book I was left bereft because there was not more to read. I wanted longer poems, as well as many more. Then, I began to see the sheer impossibility of demanding more from these voices inhabiting the author’s being. These desperate voices must have been terrifying to discern. Crafted from documents…
Author: Mom Egg Review
Procreate Project, the Museum of Motherhood and the Mom Egg Review are pleased to announce the 47th edition of this scholarly discourse. Literature intersects with art to explore the wonder and the challenges of motherhood. Using words and art to connect new pathways between the academic, the para-academic, the digital and the real, as well as the everyday: wherever you live, work and play, the Art of Motherhood is made manifest. #JoinMAMA #artandmotherhood Art: Henny Burnett Poem: Sarah Freligh Henny Burnett 365 Days of Plastic (2020-2021) 365 Days of Plastic is an installation and sculpture that is cast in pink dental plaster. It demonstrates…
Review by Carla Panciera I’ve never been to New Mexico, but after reading Bosque, a collection of poetry from Albuquerque’s poet laureate, Michelle Otero, the landscape rises before me: coyote fences, January yucca fronds, lanceleaf sage, salt cedar, mesquite pods. The poems assembled here read like a catalog not only of place, but of family, of a history that is personal, cultural, and geographical. In fact, the book’s title derives from the cottonwood forest that borders the Rio Grande and runs through New Mexico. Part wetlands, part farmland, part riparian forest, it is as unique as it is endangered, despite…
Review by Lisa C. Taylor Rarely does a book come along that combines historical, literary, and artistic icons with the ordeals of intimate relationships. Woman Drinking Absinthe deftly chronicles the age-old saga of desire and deceit with unexpected detours. The book is divided into five sections, all rich in image and detail. In the second poem, The Bear, a sleeping world is separated only by a windowpane through which a bear entreats the woman. “I’m not dangerous.” (p. 5). This sets up the idea that an obvious peril can engage the speaker with disingenuous words and sensual gestures. The collection…
The Write, Publish, and Shine podcast will help you go from emerging writer to luminary author. Hosted by author and editor Rachel Thompson, the podcast features interviews with a diverse range of lit mag editors, including Mom Egg Review’s Marjorie Tesser. Listen to Write, Publish, and Shine for a deep-dive into what editors want in submissions plus conversations on writing craft and representation. Search your podcast app for Write, Publish, and Shine or go to rachelthompson.co/podcast.
Review by Lisa C. Taylor Occasionally a poetry collection comes along to remind us of the fragility of life and the volatility of relationships. Gloria Mindock’s new book, Ash does just this. With spare language and stark details, the debris left behind by fire becomes a symbol of the ways humans fail each other. The human heart, erratic and misshapen beats the rhythm of these shortcomings in poem after poem. Ash, ponders what remains after relationships smolder and fizzle out, and the range of destruction that can be wrought becomes a dominant narrative throughout the collection. The book is divided…
Review by Lara Lillibridge Daddy is an exploration of relationships and self. By turns heartbreaking and humorous, Montlack’s writing is accessible without being superficial. The 56 poems, most one page long, are arranged into three sections: Daddy, Mother, and Father, with the first poem, “How to Mother Like a Man” set apart as an introduction. In looking at that first poem, an echo of the book cover which depicts a seahorse tattoo on flexed male biceps, it frames our mindset for how to view the poems that follow: men are nurturing, but still protective and strong. Plus, there’s a subtle…
Review by Sarah W. Bartlett Diane Elayne Dees is a political and sports blogger who has published creative nonfiction, political essays and short fiction in many journals and anthologies. In addition to “Coronary Truth,” she has two forthcoming chapbooks: “I Can’t Recall Exactly When I Died” and “The Last Time I Saw You.”. She also publishes Women Who Serve, a blog that delivers news and commentary on women’s professional tennis throughout the world. Her author blog is Diane Elayne Dees: Poet and Writer-at-Large. It is refreshing to pick up a book of poems that is accessible in both form and content.…
Review by Emily Webber Karin Cecile Davidson’s debut, Sybelia Drive, turns to a small town in Florida during the Vietnam war, presenting many alternating viewpoints throughout the novel. Davidson’s focus is on family relationships and the far-reaching impact of war. Sybelia Drive stays compelling, and even with so many voices presented, Davidson produces memorable characters. Right from the first chapter, the sharp voice of Davidson’s characters and the time and place are evident. Rainey paraded down on use that year my daddy left. It was the year when Daddy traded in our family car for the red-and-white VW bus,…
Review by Celia Jeffries It’s always a pleasure when a poet turns to prose—language is bound to surprise and sparkle when a such a writer distills thoughts onto the page—and that is exactly what happens in Elaine Terranova’s memoir The Diamond Cutter’s Daughter. “My name is Esther. It isn’t, though it was meant to be.” (3) The opening line pulls us into a conundrum, into the prism of Terranova’s world. Esther was the adored cousin who died before the narrator “was floundering around in my mother’s belly, finally ‘tearing her open,’ as she liked to describe it, waiting for…