Leila Chatti’s Deluge, Reviewed by Maria Rouphail
Leila Chatti Deluge Copper Canyon Press Reviewer: Maria Rouphail I collect words like pearls, roll them over my tongue, relish / the sounds they make, knowing they do not / serve me. “Awrah” By today’s standards, Leila Chatti’s Deluge more than makes the cut. Ethnic and religious identity. Gender and sexuality. The interrogation of societal […]
Lynn Levin’s The Minor Virtues, Reviewed by Ann Wehrman
Lynn Levin The Minor Virtues Ragged Sky Press Reviewer: Ann Wehrman Crafted with lyrical rhythm and internal rhyme, Lynn Levin’s poems in The Minor Virtues sing of hope, faith, goodness, and humility. The speaker’s tone remains steady: calm, philosophical, and sometimes whimsical. The poems are never kitschy; language and style are always refined, light, and […]
Ali Black’s If It Heals at All, Reviewed by Erica Goss
Ali Black If It Heals at All Jacar Press Reviewer: Erica Goss The cover of Ali Black’s new book of poems shows a train track disappearing into a tunnel. The phrase “if it heals at all” in red capital letters floats against a crumbling concrete wall opposite the track. Taken by Donald Black, Jr., the […]
Alison Stone’s Zombies at the Disco, Reviewed by Shawn Pavey
Alison Stone Zombies at the Disco Jacar Press Reviewer: Shawn Pavey I have absolutely no empirical evidence on which to base this assertion, but I think the ghazal became the official verse structure of the Pandemic. Several recent poetry collections have contained entire sections devoted to ghazals. Almost every poetry journal I pick up will […]
Bill Yake’s Waymaking by Moonlight: New and Selected Poems , Reviewed by Vivian Wagner
Bill Yake Waymaking by Moonlight: New and Selected Poems Empty Bowl Reviewer: Vivian Wagner Bill Yake’s Waymaking by Moonlight is a collection of poems exploring the interrelatedness of people, culture, and wilderness. Ultimately, the poems describe a continuum between humans and the natural world, suggesting that they cannot be extricated from each other. Divided into […]
