Author:

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. 

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An interview with Carol Guess

The author of Sleep Tight Satellite talks about her latest book, on writing through quarantine, epiphanies, writing in second person point of view, the book’s narrative arc, compression, and lots more.

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.

A review of Ekhō by Roslyn Orlando

Orlando commences in the prologue describing Ekhō. According to Mythology Ekhō (Echo) was a nymph of mount Cithaeron in Boeotia. She was cursed by the goddess Hera, who condemned her to only repeat the words of others as punishment for distracting her with incessant chatter while Zeus pursued his affairs.  The poet expertly builds a picture of Ekhō, characterising her with humour and vivid imagery.