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...
Chemical ValleyDavid HuebertBiblioasis, 2021 Review by Peter Szuban “What you might find, if you were handling a dead pigeon, is something unexpected in the glassy cosmos of its eye: a dark beauty, a molten alchemy.” The characters in David...
SwolleningJason PurcellArsenal Pulp Press, 2022 Review by Catherine Harris Jason Purcell’s Swollening begins in childhood, where the microbial landscape of the body is formed. In “Bathing” the speaker says, “For years / could not say the word I—could not...
the correct fury of your why is a mountain Kevin Andrew HeslopGordon Hill Press, 2021 Review by Robert Colman The intriguing aspect of reading a poet’s debut is witnessing a voice perhaps not yet fully formed but exploring themes and...
Dear Memory: Letters On Writing, Silence, And GriefVictoria ChangMilkweed Editions, 2021 Review by Cynthia Sharp Victoria Chang’s multimedia poetic conversation Dear Memory: Letters On Writing, Silence, And Grief turns sorrow into art with transcendent understanding. Intergenerational suffering is expressed...
PhototaxisOlivia TapieroTranslated by Kit SchluterNightboat Books, 2021 Review by Marisa Grizenko Olivia Tapiero’s Phototaxis, translated from French by Kit Schluter, opens in a world we can recognize. The incomprehensible has happened, and happened again, yet people continue living their...
CustomsSolmaz SharifGraywolf Press, 2022 Review by ALHS Solmaz Sharif’s Customs opens with an eruption in the face of the violence of conditionality: “I had to.” This first poem is titled “America.” Customs is poetry about conditionality in that it...
Blue-Skinned GodsS.J. SinduSoho Press, 2021 Review by Marcie McCauley In Blue-Skinned Gods, S.J. Sindu presents a narrative designed to challenge readers’ understanding of truth and trust, belonging and belief. “I had hoped for a story,” Kalki muses, but “instead...