Review by Michelle Wilbert As I read the first poem in this lovely collection by Shanna Powlus Wheeler, I was struck by two things: the sometimes harrowing pain of loss and grief that permeates the daily reality in which these poems were written, and the blending of various styles of poetry delicately worked in as one would choose stitches in fine needlework, or select pieces for a quilt intended as an heirloom. The poems blend the “Felt-Thought” of T. S. Eliot with the “Divine Humanity” of William Blake interwoven with the naturalistic prose-poem style of Mary Oliver—and this is no…
Author: Mom Egg Review
Review by Ellen Meeropol Although she dreams of being a jazz singer, entering the convent feels like a way for eighteen-year-old Mary Kaye O’Donnell to escape her dysfunctional family. That is, until she learns that she’s pregnant. The one person who could help Mary Kaye navigate an unwanted pregnancy in 1963 Chicago is her voice coach and mentor, Sister Michaeline, who dies suspiciously as Jean K. Carney’s luminous debut novel opens. Carney, a former award-winning reporter, editorial writer, and psychologist, offers a nuanced and powerful exploration of women’s choices around pregnancy and motherhood in the decades before Roe v. Wade.…
Review by Nancy Gerber “I’m done,” announces Maeve, the narrator of this compelling novel written in thirteen linked stories. And what mother hasn’t felt this way? Motherhood, the most demanding and impossible juggling act in the world—tending to the complicated, never-ending emotional needs of children, carpooling, cleaning, cooking, consoling, cajoling, working inside and outside the home, collapsing from exhaustion—all while trying to maintain one’s sense of humor and inner balance. Maybe master gardening and baking bread should be added to the to-do list. Of course, Maeve has only just begun to cope with life’s challenges when she makes her announcement.…
Issue 38 – October Casey Jenkins – sMother [Performance Art] and Amy Watkins, Poetry Casey Jenkins sMother psychological-endurance artwork. Gendered assumptions, judgments and advice – whether meant to protect or to control – bind and confine those perceived to be ‘women of child bearing age’, paralysing us with fear and shame. Our identities are subdued and mummified in forced acquiescence by community expectations that preserve absurd gender roles. At nearly 38 yo and after two miscarriages in the previous year, Casey performed sMother, the final in a trilogy of performances exploring the restrictive nature of gendered expectations on those…
Review by Laura Dennis The title of Eve F.W. Linn’s chapbook, Model Home, along with the dollhouse-like furniture on its cover, evokes coldness, mass production, lack of individuality. Then one looks at the cover again. Do the chairs and table sit on a carpet, or is this some sort of fathomless pool? And those pale pink flowers . . . are they floating? They certainly seem more than mere decorative weave. Intrigued, one opens the cover, finds the Anne Sexton epigraph, Out of used furniture, she made a tree. This may not be, one senses, what is typically thought…
Review by Barbara Ellen Sorensen In Gemma Gorga’s Book of Minutes, prose poems enlighten with mystical ease and seem to shimmer with radiance. Each poem is a self-contained invocation distilling a deeply felt spirituality found in the natural world. Though many of the poems are inspired by the imagery of Catholicism, the unofficial religion of Gorga’s home country of Spain, this is not a book dedicated to the acceptance of a beloved deity. Instead, we are invited to witness a struggle between the author and God. She writes, “You appear … hold down my scream with your…
MER Vox Quarterly – Fall, 2019 Soy Mujer – Latinx Poets of the Diaspora A Poetry Folio Curated by Elizabeth Lara Featured Poets: Jacqueline Herranz Brooks, Margarita Drago, Yesenia Montilla, Yrene Santos, Luna Flores, Xánath Caraza, Marianela Medrano, Juana M. Ramos, Mireya Perez Bustillo, Maureen Altman Dafne DeJesus – Art
Soy Mujer – Latinx Poets of the Diaspora A poetry folio curated by Elizabeth Lara My earliest experience as a language learner dates back to elementary school, when my older sister’s best friend, for fun, started teaching me a few phrases in French. Although this so whetted my appetite that I eventually became a French teacher, the greatest of gifts that life has given me is the opportunity to live, work, and sometimes write, in Spanish. For many years, I have maintained – through marriage and family – close ties with the Dominican Republic. As a result of this…
Jacqueline Herranz Brooks Vedado, Ciudad de La Habana. Cuba. Junio, 2018 Poesía Repatriada (poema #1: silla) Y en la realidad de aquí, en la realidad de ahora, en la realidad desde donde escribo, ha empezado a amanecer. Y al mirar la sala, he sentido miedo. Yo estaba bailando y sentada en esta silla a la vez, callada y preguntándome cuándo fue que vine a enterrarme delante de esta pantalla de vidrio, por qué lo de afuera da vueltas dentro, por qué el coro sigue diciendo: así vamos viendo si salimos de este embarque y avanzamos. Repatriated Poetry…
Margarita Drago Visión Pero a ti quiero mirarte hasta que tu rostro se aleje de mi miedo como un pájaro del borde filoso de la noche. Alejandra Pizarnik Hoy, Northern Boulevard se me figura la avenida Córdoba. Lo transito hacia el norte y los edificios se vuelven casas de ladrillo con jardines y enredaderas frescas trepadas a sus muros. Hoy, Northern Boulevard se estrecha, se torna calle familiar. Miro un punto fijo en la distancia, y se vuelve punto allá́ en el sur. Las nubes se precipitan contra la piedra del asfalto donde se dibuja el rostro de mi…