The Dead Wrestler Elegies by Todd Kaneko
Kaneko deftly leverages every absurdity and bit of myth making surrounding giants of the professional wrestling world to craft heartfelt, thought-provoking, and deftly worded poems that not only pay tribute but introduce questions and meditations well beyond the wrestling world.
If The Tabloids Are True What Are You? by Matthea Harvey
This collection aggressively crosses formal lines with incisive language, experiments of style, and brilliant use of images to reward revisiting this text over and over.
No Acute Distress by Jennifer Richter
Rarely will a collection of poetry vacillate so widely in mood and tone without compromising the beauty of its language. This collection takes on family, medical concerns, and more in ways that are often simultaneously stark, funny, and beautiful.
Jane by Maggie Nelson
Maggie Nelson may have become better celebrated for her essay work, but this collection of poetry dares to meld personal reflection with research with flights of fancy for an intense collection that draws forth moments of beauty from the darkest of surrounding contexts.
Even So by Gary Young
I’ll always credit this book more than any other for inspiring my love of and willingness to pursue for myself the genre of prose poetry. Young’s words demonstrate a both a real artistry and an easy accessibility to draw readers into deep reflection, moments of beauty, and more than a few surprises.
Michael Chin was born and raised in Utica, New York and currently lives in Las Vegas with his wife and son. He is the author of two full-length short story collections: You Might Forget the Sky was Ever Blue from Duck Lake Books and Circus Folk from Hoot ‘n’ Waddle; his third collection, The Long Way Home is forthcoming in 2020 from Cowboy Jamboree Press. Chin won the 2017-2018 Jean Leiby Chapbook Award from The Florida Review and Bayou Magazine’s 2014 James Knudsen Prize for Fiction. Find him online at miketchin.com and follow him on Twitter @miketchin. miketchin@gmail.com
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