Amy Barone’s We Became Summer, Reviewed by Francine Witte

Amy Barone We Became Summer New York Quarterly Books Reviewer: Francine Witte Let’s face it. When the title of a poetry collection is a perfect three-word poem itself, you know you’re in for a pretty good ride. Such is the case with Amy Barone’s first full-length collection We Became Summer. The title suggests so much, […]

Joan Colby’s Her Heartsongs, Reviewed by Erica Goss

Joan Colby Her Heartsongs Presa Press Reviewer: Erica Goss The wild and the domestic live side-by-side in Joan Colby’s new collection, Her Heartsongs. The tension between the two realms gives these poems their energy and edge. These are stories of love and peril precariously balanced in a world where persistence wins over passivity. The first […]

Beth Copeland’s Blue Honey, Reviewed by Cindy Hochman

Beth Copeland Blue Honey The Broadkill River Press Reviewer: Cindy Hochman In Beth Copeland’s award-winning collection Blue Honey, the Greek goddess of memory, Mnemosyne, hovers protectively, safeguarding the poet’s own recollection as she documents her parents’ progressively dwindling recall. Told in narratives that are both straightforward and imaginative (many of them in couplet form, as […]

M. Scott Douglass’s Just Passing Through, Reviewed by Brian Fanelli

M. Scott Douglass Just Passing Through Paycock Press Reviewed by Brian Fanelli M. Scott Douglass’s Just Passing Through contains snapshots of life on the road from a biker’s perspective. The poems, however, will still resonate with readers that can’t tell the difference between a Harley and a Triumph. Douglass offers vivid imagery of American life, […]

Jared Smith’s Shadows Within the Roaring Fork, Reviewed by Richard Allen Taylor

Jared Smith Shadows Within the Roaring Fork Flowstone Press Reviewer: Richard Allen Taylor Early in his latest collection, Shadows Within the Roaring Fork, Jared Smith firmly establishes himself as a serious, truth-telling, common-sense kind of poet who would never fake his own death. So, it comes as a shock when he begins the poem, “Learning […]