Diane Seuss’s Modern Poetry, Reviewed by Erica Goss
Diane Seuss Modern Poetry Graywolf Press, 2024 Reviewer: Erica Goss A testimonial to Diane Seuss’s enduring commitment to the art of poetry, her latest collection is harrowing, hilarious, disconcerting, and fearless. This memoir-in-verse reverberates with pitch-perfect observations gleaned from her years as an academic outsider, the combination of pain and pride forged during her working-class […]
Andrea Hollander’s And Now, Nowhere But Here, Reviewed by Erica Goss
Andrea Hollander And Now, Nowhere But Here Terrapin Books Reviewer: Erica Goss In her new book, And Now, Nowhere But Here, Andrea Hollander looks back at the complexities and contradictions of a long life. The poems in this wise and often luminous collection explore the aftermath of betrayal and its effects on a marriage, as […]
Cynthia Manick’s No Sweet Without Brine, Reviewed by Erica Goss
No Sweet Without Brine Cynthia Manick HarperCollins Reviewer: Erica Goss “I want us living, not just alive,” Cynthia Manick writes in “Dear Future Body (Keep Your Skin Thickk),” a poem from her latest collection, No Sweet Without Brine. Body image, family, and the constant pressure to conform to others’ expectations inform the book, as the […]
Tara Betts’s Refuse to Disappear, Reviewed by Erica Goss
Refuse to Disappear Tara Betts Word Works, 2022 Reviewer: Erica Goss In this propulsive, urgent collection, Tara Betts weighs perceptions of strength and weakness, microaggressions and politics, against the day-to-day experiences of life for Black women in America. As she creates a meticulous catalog, from Star Trek’s Lieutenant Uhuru to Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, Betts […]
Amy Small McKinney’s One Day I Am a Field, Reviewed by Erica Goss
Amy Small-McKinney One Day I Am a Field Glass Lyre Press Reviewer: Erica Goss “Instantly, soundlessly, a meadow called bereft.” — “One Day I Am a Field” In her most recent poetry collection, Amy Small-McKinney delivers a devastating account of caregiving’s emotional and physical tolls. By turns fierce, exhausted, passionate, and wise, the speaker in […]
