So Long the Sky by Mary Kovaleski Byrnes examines what it takes to make a life in a new place through the personas of Russian and Polish immigrants.
Tag: Book Review
She Spirals Again: A Review of Sarah Lilius’ GIRL
In Sarah Lilius’ GIRL (Dancing Girl Press, 2017), the girls carve out pieces of themselves in a world of harassers and violence, in a world of Trump.
An Ambiguous Utopia: Review of Leah Umansky’s “The Barbarous Century”
The advent of movements like Me Too, Black Lives Matter, the Never Again student efforts against gun violence, and others speak to inevitable and necessary backlashes against misogyny, inequality, corruption, and violence. These movements are reminders of the widening cracks between what’s long been tolerated (and in many cases accepted) and the reality of what…
On Discovery and Obsession: A Review of Lillian-Yvonne Bertram’s Personal Science
The poems in Lillian-Yvonne Bertram’s book Personal Science (Tupelo Press, 2017) remind us of the intimacy of discovery.
Where Your Desire Was Left Out: A Review of Kristin Sanders’ “Cuntry”
Kristin Sanders’ “Cuntry”
(Trembling Pillow Press, 2017) uses the lens of country music to depict female sexuality and desire.
Blurring the Edge of the Tiniest Things: A Review of Ivy Alvarez’s “The Everyday English Dictionary”
In Ivy Alvarez’s The Everyday English Dictionary (Paekakariki Press, 2016), each stanza has a header word preceding it (like words in a dictionary), and the words are not everyday words: they are quite challenging. One might deduce that these words would probably need to be looked up in a dictionary. And yet, the stanzas oppose the…
Shared Mercy: A Review of Heidi Czerwiec’s “Conjoining”
Heidi Czerwiec’s haunting new book Conjoining (Sable Books, 2017) focuses on the myth of mothers as monsters.
Open Your Mouth, Carry It to the Next Place: A Review of Jenny Sadre-Orafai’s “Malak”
Jenny Sadre-Orafai’s collection Malak (Platypus Press, 2017) creates a new language that helps us understand the metaphysical, the things we cannot see.
War, Love, and the Life Before Birth: A Review of Ruth Awad’s “Set to Music a Wildfire”
Enikő Vághy discusses themes of heritage, trauma, survival, and inherited memory in Ruth Awad’s ‘Set to Music a Wildfire’ (Southern Indiana Review Press, 2017).
Morning and Mourning: A Review of Jennifer Tseng’s “Not so dear Jenny”
Jennifer Tseng’s “Not so dear Jenny” (Bateau Press, 2017), the winner of the 2016 Boom Chapbook Contest, is born from a 30-year correspondence with her father. These poems are intimate missives on parenting, longing, and heartbreak.
This Galaxy and Everything in It: A Review of Marlena Chertock’s “On that one-way trip to Mars”
Marlena Chertock’s collection “On that one-way trip to Mars” (Bottlecap Press, 2016), contemplates the beauty on the earth and in the universe and how quickly it can dissipate if we aren’t careful.
Motherhood Unfiltered: A Review of Megan Merchant’s “The Dark’s Humming”
Megan Merchant’s The Dark’s Humming (Glass Lyre Press, March 2017) speaks to the maternal experience in the most intimate and real ways: its joys, fears, and the eternal, overwhelming responsibility.
Agape Editions 