Review by B.A. Goodjohn “…burnt years / welfare cheese / dirty decades / stolen checks / lost kids / was it worth it / just to write / some fucking poems?” (121) – RETROGRADE is not a quiet, comfy collection.…
Browsing: Book Reviews
Review by Lynne Shapiro I happen to like, really like, nests, eggs, and estuaries so Molly Sutton Kiefer’s book, Nestuary, instantly attracted me. Sitting at the Mom Egg table at AWP several years ago, a woman confided in me that…
Review by Anne Marie Fowler – It is not lost on me that I was assigned to review November Butterfly as though the universe were contacting me through any means possible as I contemplate my own role as daughter, sister,…
Review by B.A. Goodjohn – “Yeah,” [the nurse] smiled back. “He’s got nine lives, like a cat…”…After she left, I asked him, “Do you want to KEEP ON living nine lives?” Very clearly, smilingly, and maddeningly, he mouthed, “ten, eleven…”…
Review by Brooke Harris – Turning straw into gold is one impossible task. “Rumpelstiltskin, or What’s in a Name?” is a variation, dare I say a revision, of the rather-terrifying Grimms Fairytale. Zara Raab turns the strange story on its…
Review by Jill Kelly Koren – As a poet who left Indiana to teach in Texas, I entered Robin Silbergleid’s Texas Girl (Demeter Press, 231 pages) expecting to find my own story, but to my surprise I found what Harold…
Reviewed by Tessara Dudley – I Carry My Mother is dedicated: For my mother, Florence Newman January 25, 1928 — August 22, 2012 may her memory be a blessing In this collection of poems, Lesléa Newman explores a journey to…
Review by Samantha Duncan – So often, the conversation in the modern era of raising families revolves around excess. From the extensive list of “necessities” for newborns to parenting advice books, to toddler play groups and activity classes, to the…
Reader’s Note by Gail Denham – It took me a powerful long time to go through Lockward’s wonderful book, “The Crafty Poet”… mostly because I had to stop and try many of the exercises. Diane Lockward, who is the author…
Review by Issa M. Lewis – The idea of what a mother should be is often romanticized in popular thought. Images of the perfect mother—ultra-organized, fierce protectors of their children (but never taking it so far as to appear unfeminine)—have…