In Katie Manning’s 28,065 Nights (River Glass Books, 2020) the speaker tells stories about her grandmother to dive into the joys and sorrows of being human: small details like poor girls using vanilla for perfume or what pieces of us hide in a grandmother’s dresser drawers. Manning’s prose poems spill out confessions, family secrets, and…
Tag: Jennifer MacBain-Stephens
The Bugs Know How to Find the Light: A Review of Michael Sikkema’s “You’ve Got a Pretty Hellmouth”
Michael Sikkema’s poetry collection You’ve Got a Pretty Hellmouth reminds us the world is never what it seems.
The Internet Is a Bad Bandaid: A Review of “mcmxciv” by Nate Logan and JJ Rowan
Nate Logan and JJ Rowan’s chapbook mcmxciv (Shirt Pocket Press, 2018) explores the year 1994, its budding technology, and the void it left.
Step by Step: A Review of Mary Kovaleski Byrnes’ So Long the Sky
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
A Human Voice Would Scare Us: A Review of Jessie Carty’s “Shopping After the Apocalypse”
Jessie Carty’s “Shopping After the Apocalypse” (Dancing Girl Press, 2016) contemplates solitude and the will to survive.
Of Melancholy in the Garden: A Review of Sarah J. Sloat’s “Heiress To A Small Ruin”
In Sarah J. Sloat’s Heiress To A Small Ruin (Dancing Girl Press, 2016), household objects and common domestic scenarios breathe, grow, and make choices on every page, but there is nothing common about them.
Agape Editions 