Why I Was LateCharlie PetchBrick Books, 2021 Review by Stella Cali Charlie Petch’s debut collection of poetry, Why I Was Late, opens with a love letter to C-3PO. “I always thought you were gay,” says the speaker. “I imagined...
Norma Jeane Baker of TroyAnne CarsonNew Directions Publishing, 2020 Review by Natalie Podaima Anne Carson’s Norma Jeane Baker of Troy, first staged at the Shed Theatre in New York City, is a poetic performance piece that retells Euripides’ Helen,...
Recovery CommunityConor Mc DonnellMansfield Press, 2020 Review by Robert Colman A lot has been written about life in lockdown over the past year and a half—so much so that even new literary journals, including The Quarantine Review, have been...
Nautilus and Bone Lisa RichterFrontenac House Poetry, 2020 Review by Kim Trainor I don’t remember where I first encountered the poetry of Anna Margolin (born Rosa Leysenboym), only that I was drawn to her cycle of Mary poems, in which...
The Language We Were Never Taught to Speak Grace Lau Guernica, 2021 Review by Kate Gorton If it were possible to titrate Grace Lau’s stunning poetry debut down to one line from one poem, this would come closest: “Where is me?”...
UnderstanGavin BarrettMawenzi House, 2020 Review by Kate Rogers Gavin Barrett’s poetry collection Understan takes the reader on a beautiful kaleidoscopic journey from Goa, India, throughout the various places he has lived, including Toronto and environs. The poems sojourn with...
PhillisAlison ClarkeUniversity of Calgary Press, 2020 Review by Rachel Narvey In Alison Clarke’s latest publication, Phillis (2020), Clarke cracks open time and form to craft a paean for the beloved eighteenth century poet, Phillis Wheatley. As a child, Phillis...
TENDERLaiwan Talon Books, 2020 Review by Clayton Longstaff Laiwan’s poetry takes root in the most hostile of urban landscapes, and breathes deep. In breathing, it becomes a living force in the felled detritus of capitalistic and colonial wreckage. From...
on/meFrancine CunninghamCaitlin Press, 2019 Review by Kim Trainor Let’s start with the title: on/me. Every poem in the collection has two titles: a main title that suggests a general category (On Grief, On Love, On Identity, On Mental Health)...