Francesca Bell’s Bright Stain, Reviewed by Cindy Hochman
Francesca Bell Bright Stain Red Hen Press Reviewer: Cindy Hochman The first poem in Francesca Bell’s sophisticated and street-wise collection Bright Stain begins, like any coming-of-age story worth its salt, with reluctant innocence. Little mouse, lying white on your side like a child in a christening dress— … but snake isn’t interested. … refusing to […]
Sara Backer’s Such Luck, Reviewed by Ace Boggess
Sara Backer Such Luck Flowstone Press Reviewer: Ace Boggess Sara Backer’s first full-length poetry collection Such Luck navigates familiar tones and themes but also conjures worlds that are intimate and personal to the poet, such that the reader often feels as if he has a voyeuristic view on the lives of the narrators. In these […]
Mehnaz Sahibzada’s My Gothic Romance, Reviewed by Ann Wehrman
Mehnaz Sahibzada My Gothic Romance Finishing Line Press Reviewer: Ann Wehrman In My Gothic Romance, Mehnaz Sahibzada explores perceptions of personal experiences and relationships through confessional, lyrical, and narrative poems. The 2019 collection is structured in two parts, “Dark” (twenty-eight poems) and “Light” (thirty-five poems). True to life, the poems divert subtly from their assigned […]
Introductions to Pedestal 85
Introductions to Pedestal 85 Selecting poems with four editors is an amazing process. Working as a team helps each of us look deeper into the intent of a poem, into its rhythm and impact. So, readers, I’m going to issue a similar challenge to you. Find the poem where a woman is buried in books […]
Jared Smith’s That’s How It Is, Reviewed by David E. Poston
Jared Smith That’s How It Is Stubborn Mule Press Reviewer: David E. Poston Jared Smith’s new collection, That’s How It Is, is prefaced by a passage from Rilke’s novel The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge which describes how poetry is not simply expressed feelings, but the product of experience internalized over time. Smith’s career now […]
