Matthew E. Henry’s the Colored page, Reviewed by Brian Fanelli
Matthew E. Henry the Colored page Sundress Publications Reviewer: Brian Fanelli Matthew E. Henry’s the Colored page won’t be easy to digest for every reader, especially a white audience. His poems are utterly unflinching and bold in their honesty. He uses “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes to link together four sections that detail […]
Robert Fillman’s House Bird, Reviewed by Brian Fanelli
Robert Fillman Bird House Terrapin Books Reviewer: Brian Fanelli Robert Fillman has a knack for turning the everyday domestic space into a fascinating subject for his poetry. He drills into home life, mining memory and personal experience. The result is a fine debut collection, House Bird. Even if the spaces Fillman writes about feel familiar, […]
Alexis Jackson’s My Sisters’ Country, Reviewed by Brian Fanelli
Alexis V. Jackson My Sisters’ Country Kore Press Reviewer: Brian Fanelli Alexis V. Jackson’s collection, My Sisters’ Country, is a book with impressive historical scope—integrating numerous influences and references, and underscoring everyone from Gwendolyn Brooks to June Jordan to the four Black Girls, Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, who […]
Michael Montlack’s Daddy, Reviewed by Brian Fanelli
Michael Montlack Daddy NYQ Books Reviewer: Brian Fanelli Michael Montlack’s Daddy contains several types of daddies and mothers, important key figures in the poet’s life. This collection is also an exploration of desire, childhood, sex, and gay identity. It praises a loved one in one poem before acknowledging the fallen in another. Through this journey, […]
Diane Frank’s While Listening to the Enigma Variations: New and Selected Poems, Reviewed by Brian Fanelli
Diane Frank While Listening to the Enigma Variations: New and Selected Poems Glass Lyre Press Reviewed by Brian Fanelli After the last few years of political tumult and after the year that was 2020, Diane Frank’s While Listening to the Enigma Variations: New and Selected Poems truly feels like a much-need respite, a booster shot […]
