Imagine Us, The SwarmMuriel LeungNightboat Books, 2021 Review by Lou J. Baker On a page filled almost entirely with lines of ellipses, a single phrase stands alone: “I think it’s funny that the book is not about bees at...
Truth OMGImane BoukailaUnrestricted Interest, 2021 Review by Catherine Harris Brimming with tumbling language, tactile sound, and vivid emotion, Imane Boukaila’s chapbook Truth OMG is a blend of sound and motion—a reading experience you can both hear and feel. Boukaila...
Quiet Night ThinkGillian SzeECW Press, 2022 Review by Rebecca Mangra “What emerges from long looking?” Gillian Sze, in her new book Quiet Night Think, asks readers the question in one of her essays. Long looking requires held attention to...
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st CenturyKim FuCoach House Books, 2022 Review by Simon Lowe Canadian author Kim Fu’s timely, genre-exploiting collection of short stories, Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, is a weird, mind blowing examination of...
The Kissing of KissingHannah EmersonMilkweed Editions, 2022 Review by Clara Otto The Kissing of Kissing, the debut collection by nonspeaking autistic poet Hannah Emerson, is an invitation to see with new eyes. Hypnotic and tender, these poems pluck the...
Find a Place for MeDeirdre FaganRegal House Publishing, 2022 Review by Diane Gottlieb “I have ALS.” These are the words Deirdre Fagan’s forty-three year-old husband spoke just days after Christmas 2011. Bob, the father of their children (who were...
Beast at Every ThresholdNatalie WeeArsenal Pulp Press, 2022 Review by Stella Cali Natalie Wee’s Beast at Every Threshold explores queerness, identity, and diaspora. Through formal experimentation and controlled vulnerability, Wee has created a collection that feels simultaneously challenging and...
frank: sonnetsDiane Seuss Milkweed Editions, 2021 Review by Clara Otto Diane Seuss’s 2021 collection frank: sonnets explores addiction, disability, death, and love. In the hands of a less skilled poet the combination of these themes might make for a maudlin...
The Scent of LightKristjana GunnarsCoach House Books, 2022 Review by Kris Rothstein This winter, the term “autofiction” followed me around until I felt the need to investigate further. At its most obvious it is autobiographical fiction—but just below the...