Amanda Moore’s Requeening, Reviewed by Erica Goss
Amanda Moore Requeening Ecco/HarperCollins Reviewer: Erica Goss “The hive will come to know the new, caged queen. Her scent, alarming at first, will become recognized, comforting.” —“Requeening” Amanda Moore’s new collection explores the consequences of succession, in beehives and in her own family. “Requeening,” or the process of introducing a new queen to an […]
Julie Danho’s Those Who Keep Arriving, Reviewed by Erica Goss
Julie Danho Those Who Keep Arriving Silverfish Review Press Reviewer: Erica Goss In her debut poetry collection, Julie Danho brings together themes of ancestors, displacement, ethnicity, and marriage. Moving across continents and through relationships, Danho juxtaposes the ordinary against the disquieting, finding her journey through life echoed in the experiences of her parents and grandparents. […]
Ali Black’s If It Heals at All, Reviewed by Erica Goss
Ali Black If It Heals at All Jacar Press Reviewer: Erica Goss The cover of Ali Black’s new book of poems shows a train track disappearing into a tunnel. The phrase “if it heals at all” in red capital letters floats against a crumbling concrete wall opposite the track. Taken by Donald Black, Jr., the […]
Heather Swan’s A Kinship with Ash, Reviewed by Erica Goss
Heather Swan A Kinship with Ash Terrapin Books Reviewer: Erica Goss “A hot wind … // ushers in the end / of the holocene.” These lines from the poem “Heat I” bring us face-to-face with the raw truth at the heart of Heather Swan’s A Kinship with Ash. In a voice detached and devastatingly precise, […]
Judith Skillman’s The Truth about Our American Births, Reviewed by Erica Goss
Judith Skillman The Truth about Our American Births Shanti Arts Reviewer: Erica Goss The poems in Judith Skillman’s enigmatic new collection, The Truth About Our American Births, provide clues to the shifting stories of the author’s family’s past. Bits and pieces of that elusive truth appear in various forms throughout the book: a grandmother’s eccentricities, […]
