Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her HeadWarsan ShirePenguin Random House, 2022 Review by Stella Cali Multiple voices ripple through this collection, music winding through words—the grainy sound of cassette tapes from home, whispers of lyrics and...
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...
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...
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...
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...