Read Donna Hemans’ essay on Ploughshares!
Date: January 4, 2021
The operator-assisted collect call comes on a July morning in 1987. It’s still early, before 9 a.m., and except for the telephone ringing, the house is quiet, my younger sister […]
Date: January 4, 2021
The operator-assisted collect call comes on a July morning in 1987. It’s still early, before 9 a.m., and except for the telephone ringing, the house is quiet, my younger sister […]
Date: January 4, 2021
Each month, Beyond The Page: A WGBH Book Club features a notable author, who takes part in a live Q&A with a WGBH personality to discuss the intricacies of that month’s novel. […]
Date: January 4, 2021
In these disunited states, containing within them many sovereign nations, we are in what Biodun Jeyifo called “arrested decolonization.” And yet, as Mukoma Wa Ngugi wrote, “The work of decolonization […]
Date: January 4, 2021
RIFT ZONE BY TESS TAYLOR Taylor released two books this year: a Dorothea Lange documentary project, and this collection of original poems that mine personal, California, American history, and changes […]
Date: January 1, 2021
Pasadena, CA: Red Hen Press, 2020. First Edition. Softcover. “There are perfectly good explanations/ for the simultaneous risks we juggle./ There are shipyards of baubles/ and harbors that have dried up/ and martinis made up […]
Date: December 18, 2020
Enjoy a virtual conversation with widely traveled poet and performer, Keith Flynn, on December 18th at 7PM! We will be discussing his newest collection of poetry, The Skin of Meaning. Catch the […]
Date: December 16, 2020
An old post from 2019, featuring Elizabeth Bradfield’s TOWARD ANTARTICA. Though she writes in a completely different style than Oliver, Elizabeth Bradfield’s Toward Antarctica (Boreal Books, 2019) also belongs in the hands […]
Date: December 16, 2020
Generally, I don’t care about the new year. The clock ticking from December 31st to January 1st doesn’t mean much, other than time moving as it always does, bringing all […]
Date: December 14, 2020
S2 E14 – Tracy Daugherty “In our Season 2 finale (probably), we welcome our friend Tracy Daugherty, the author of many books of nonfiction and fiction, to discuss his recent […]
Date: December 14, 2020
My list of the best Latinx poetry published this year includes After Ruben (Red Hen Press), a stunning collection of poems by Francisco Aragon, inspired by another of Latin America’s greatest poets […]
Date: October 3, 2011
In August 2011 The Midwest Book Review's Wisconsin Bookwatch wrote about John Barr's book of poems. "The Hundred Fathom Curve is John Barr's exploration of Americana from the perspectives of […]
Date: October 3, 2011
Poet Sasha West examines the language of Amy Randolph in Randolph's book Cold Angel of Mercy. "Randolph's crisp, searing voice is evident in her facility with image." —Sasha West
Date: October 3, 2011
In the sixty-fourth volume of The Hudson Review, Peter Makuck praises William Trowbridge's book, Ship of Fool. "William Trowbridge's Ship of Fool had me laughing out loud . . . […]
Date: September 30, 2011
“My favorite poems here include the title poem about a talisman stone that emblemizes the omnipresence of past time, ‘Something Old,’ ‘Someone’s Father,’ the bitterly ironic ‘Fish to Fry,’ ‘Trucks […]
Date: August 2, 2011
At first glance Jim Tilleys In Confidence seems to consist of calm, graceful poems of upper middle class domesticity, but turkey vultures wait in the yard and many stories have […]
Date: August 2, 2011
"Driven and powerful writing in play format, Among the Goddesses is an excellent read and a first pick for literary fiction and poetry collections." The full review can be seen
Date: August 1, 2011
Among the Goddesses is a bold experiment. Magical, mystical, musical, it charts a woman's journey that reverses the journey of Odysseus. What is it to be aided by goddesses, if […]
Date: August 1, 2011
In yet another variation of a vampire love story, Eidus (The War of the Rosens) introduces Lilith Zeremba, a college freshman who has declared herself, over and over, to be […]
Date: July 31, 2011
Fiction is subject to viruses, and the vampire bug strikes the unlikeliest writers. Witty and incisive Eidus (The War of the Rosens, 2007) has always drawn our attention to the […]
Date: July 31, 2011
In Jim Tilley's In Confidence, we see the internal and external workings of the world through a mature poets multifaceted lens. Crafting his poems with formal care, Tilley always aims […]