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.

A review of on a date with disappointment by Najya Williams

Repetition is one of Najya Williams’ most important lyric strategies. Certain poignant lines are frequently repeated, giving them resonance, enriching and amplifying their meaning. Take “but the memories,” for instance, a poem about heartbreak and resilience. “But the memories have long scabbed over” is repeated five times in this 27-line poem, italicized in the final line. “The scars may never heal — fully at least” is repeated four times. 

A review of Magicholia by Jenny Grassl

These poems challenge our preconceived notions and prescribed roles with fascinating imagery and provocative language that introduces Grassl own invented syntax.  This unique use of language takes on visually significant forms.  The subject matter encompasses dangerous and threatening conditions such as betrayal, life-threatening mental illness, the rigors of treatment, incarceration, and the end of the world. 

A review of Home of the American Circus by Allison Larkin

Larkin has the uncanny ability to paint each person in Freya’s orbit as if they were living, breathing figures, complete with their own hopes, flaws, and secrets. Through her vivid descriptions and nuanced dialogue, each character feels indispensable to the story, enriching the tapestry of the small town and making Freya’s world achingly authentic and free from judgement.

A review of Breaking Plates

Walls fall down and characters burst out of the window, singing, dancing, shouting and breaking plates. The answer is clear that these structures, which seem so solid, are fragile indeed and it’s always possible to burst forth. Breaking Plates is utterly relevant and terrific fun, a film to watch repeatedly for the sheer joy of it, and to make our own conversations with the wild women of the past.

An interview with Mark Wish

On January 7, 2021, the day after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Mark Wish, along with his wife, Elizabeth, disturbed by what they’d seen on TV the previous evening, hoped to create a response, a reaction, a way to find common ground with Americans—all Americans. The product of their desire and vision? Coolest American Stories. And the first volume of this annual anthology of short stories, Coolest American Stories 2022, was wildly successful. It’s just gone to its fifth printing.

Bleeding Wilds: A Review of Country Songs for Alice by Emma Binder

One of Binder’s many talents is their ability to transport you to any location at any time, but especially those environments inextricably tied to nature, to the wild, to those places that awaken instincts that lie within every human being. In one poem that takes us to “the plains” we are told, “You need hooves or adaptations, like how the fox twists her shadow into scrap metal, to camouflage herself from hunters in their cars.