Author and editor Diane Gottlieb speaks with Robert Shapard on Zoom about his fascinating life in the flash world, the importance of detail and image in very short fiction, and how stories come to him.
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A review of In Which by Denise Duhamel
Denise Duhamel has her serious side, too, if often couched in irony. In “Poem in Which I Have Doubts and Then Some Faith” she laments the demise of people reading books – people on the beach glued to their phones reading Instagram, texts, Whatever. And then she notes, “DeSantis wants to ban books,” referring to the autocratic governor of Florida, where she lives.
An Interview with Suzanne Mercury
Suzanne Mercury is a poet whose work lies in the interstices of the natural and metaphysical world. In this interview she talks about her latest book Hive, about Magic Squares, bees, writing exercises, ecology, and more.
A review of The Four Faces of Eve: A Tribute to Survival by Connie Boyle, Brooke Granville, Petra Perkins, and Gail Waldstein
I speak for Colorado when I say we see the weathering/ weathered faces on the cover of this book of poems because these poets have faced the sunshine, the rain and the freezing cold of life. We treasure this wall of women we may not know, yet we feel we do know them. They are our Eve, the source of all life, who eat the forbidden fruit, take God’s consequences and live to tell us about it.
A review of The Buried Life by Andrea Goldsmith
Goldsmith writes with the perfect combination of intensity and restraint, balancing the forward motion of the novel’s rich plot, a linear arc of emotional awakening that picks up the book’s title, with philosophical reflection that leans into the poetic and unspoken qualities of music and poetry.
A review of In The Thaw of Day by Cynthia Good
Good’s poems catch and return with these moments of praise and gratitude balancing the tension with hard-fought lessons and observations of resiliency from the natural world. Her poetry combines language that is intensifying and evocative, like a personal diary, with the immediacy of a scrapbook. And it’s this personal baring open and honesty that lingers on making In The Thaw of Day a dynamic collection.
A review of Griffintown Sisters by J. Emile Turcotte
Griffintown Sisters is vividly written, with multi-faceted characters including strong, resourceful women. The sisters’ love for each other and their struggle for survival come across clearly. This book will provoke thought about whether or not things have changed much for people at the bottom of society’s ladder.
New giveaway!
We have a copy of The Color of Noon by Eugene Datta to give away!
To win, sign up for our Free Newsletter on the right-hand side of the site and enter via the newsletter. Winner will be chosen by the end of April from subscribers who enter via the newsletter. Good luck!
A review of As If Scattered by Holaday Mason
Mason quickly shifts into an influx of embodied imagery and sensuous detail; absorbing love poems, lush and erotic, are further enlivened, countered by a more objective perspective as landscapes of the natural world magnify the intimacy of Mason’s poems. The meditative poetic interchange using briefer lines, airy lineation and informal erasure drew me in through breath and space, encouraging a contemplative atmosphere.
A review of Exactly As I Am by Rae White
The imagery captures the tender and quasi-ritualistic act of leaving pieces of oneself on another person’s life. The metaphor of clothing as both physical and emotional markers is clever and poignant, conjuring connection, memory and the lingering presence of love and yearning. The rhythm flows naturally with conversational ease while opening up new ways of seeing.