Tag: poetry review

REVIEW: SWEET, YOUNG, AND WORRIED – BLYTHE BAIRD (BUTTON POETRY)

Baird truly pours her heart onto each page, and it can be felt beating in every single word. – Isabella Ciraco

REVIEW: SYMMETRY OF FISH – SU CHO (PENGUIN BOOKS)

Su Cho’s The Symmetry of Fish is a summon into experience, adventure, loss, sadness, pain and enlightenment. – Michael Imossan

REVIEW: URBANSHEE BY SIAARA FREEMAN (BUTTON POETRY)

Siaara Freeman shrieks and wails, but she also knows when to pull back, when to whisper and when to let the blank space reverberate like the ghost of a storm – Ronnie K. Stephens

THE STUDY OF HUMAN LIFE – JOSHUA BENNETT (PENGUIN POETS)

Bennett has established himself as an intensely patient and deliberate writer capable of upending genre as seamlessly as he upends our understanding of the world. – Ronnie K. Stephens

TPQ20 – S4EP2: COURTNEY FAYE TAYLOR

Join Chris of The Poetry Question in conversation with Courtney Faye Taylor, author of Concentrate (Graywolf Press) and winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry!

REPLAYS: MIXY BY QUAVO, TAKEOFF & SUMMER WALKER

I ain’t mixy
If my actions change
Adjusting to your nonsense
Now all of sudden I’m acting strange
– Reggie Johnson

REPLAYS: OUTSIDE BY BRYSON TILLER

Luckily I clean it up well
Yeah prepare for the tide
Not a stain on me
We take off on our ride
– Reggie Johnson

REVIEW: A SHIVER IN THE LEAVES – LUTHER HUGHES (BOA EDITIONS)

His use of structure, rhythm and extended metaphor are among the best, and his particular utilization of the crow throughout A Shiver in the Leaves sets this debut apart as one of the most layered, complex collections of the year. – Ronnie K. Stephens

TALK TO ME: NOLCHA FOX

I love putting odd images together, playing with alternate definitions of words, twisting the end. My adult me is the one who figures out where to submit the glorious mess I make of a poem. – Nolcha Fox

REPLAYS: TOXIC BY YG

Dramamine because I’m sick of you
When patience ran thin
Where was thick for you?
What didn’t click for you?
– Reggie Johnson

TPQ20 Logo in TPQ Green with a Microphone in the middle

TPQ20: S3EP11 – H. MELT

Join Chris in a sit down with H. MELT, about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry!

REVIEW: LOTUS & THE APOCALYPSE – AUSTIN DAVIS (OUTCAST PRESS)

It’s a testament to all of us holding depression and joy in both hands, to everyone that has ever felt their world could end before the sun goes down. – Caitie L. Young

REVIEW: SO, STRANGER – TOPAZ WINTERS (BUTTON POETRY)

Winters offers a layered and thoughtful critique of the immigrant experience in America, the nuances of her relationship with her father and how borders operate in our lives. – Ronnie K. Stephens

SPEAK FREELY: MEANING AND METAPHOR IN RACHEL MCKIBBENS’ “THE WIDOWER”

Rachel McKibbens “The Widower” captures students because it’s visceral, emotional, and refuses to be ignored. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: DIARIES OF A TERRORIST – CHRISTOPHER SOTO (COPPER CANYON PRESS)

Soto’s poems are meant to be rough, triggering at times, and cut straight to the point. Readers can’t help but understand the message, empathize, and feel like we’re supposed to fix things ourselves.

REPLAYS: THE SIGN BY LIZZO

Hey how you doing?
Are you getting tired yet?
I might forgive you
But I never forget
– Reggie Johnson

REVIEW: LET THE DEAD IN – SAIDA AGOSTINI (ALAN SQUIRE PUBLISHING)

The language, lyrically dispensed in its distinct style, portrays bravery and reveals a poet whose voice is both an ache and a cure. – Martins Deep

REVIEW: TIME IS A MOTHER – OCEAN VUONG (PENGUIN PRESS)

Vuong uses structure to further disrupt linear fluidity. His poems frequently utilize a style of enjambment that eschews natural speech, presenting fragments that time and again force the reader forward. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: ALL THE BLOOD INVOLVED IN LOVE (HAYMARKET BOOKS)

Maya Marshall’s debut interrogates the current sociopolitical nature and its threat to reproductive rights, choice, and Blackness. – Caitie L. Young

REPLAYS: SURPRISE BY CHLÖE BAILEY

Not into too many surprises
Unless it’s a special occasion
And whenever I’m with you
It’s a cause for a celebration
– Reggie Johnson

REVIEW: ALL THE FLOWERS KNEELING – PAUL TRAN (PENGUIN POETS)

Paul Tran’s long-awaited debut collection, All the Flowers Kneeling, is a fierce reminder that Tran is one of the most talented and visceral poets writing in America today. – Ronnie K. Stephens

RELEASE DAY: HALF-BRED – ANTHONY SALANDY

Order your copy of A.R. Salandy’s Half-Bred! Only 100 copies available!

SPEAK FREELY: NATIONAL POETRY MONTH EDITION

This month, I’m sharing some of my favorite pedagogical practices to introduce during National Poetry Month, as well as some of the poems I return to in my classes year after year. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: BLOODFRESH BY EBONY STEWART (BUTTON POETRY)

Stewart is at her best, masterfully blending her understanding of craft with her keen ear for orality to offer a collection readers will be talking about for years. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: DESCANSOS – KATHERINE OSBORNE (SALO PRESS)

Animals burn. Volcanos erupt. We aren’t told the story necessarily as it is; we are told how it feels to live and remember it.

CHAPBOOK CONTEST: SUBMISSIONS OPEN!

CHAPBOOK CONTEST: SUBMISSIONS OPEN!

Submit your chapbook manuscripts to The Poetry Question! Guest Judges: Sofia Fey & Chris L. Butler.

REVIEW: THE MATRIX – N.H. PRITCHARD (PRIMARY INFORMATION and UGLY DUCKLING PRESSE)

REVIEW: THE MATRIX – N.H. PRITCHARD (PRIMARY INFORMATION and UGLY DUCKLING PRESS)

The collection is ultra-visual, a singing arrangement of offerings that has eyes of its own, old eyes that gaze at us from source, unblinking, revealing nothing (and everything). 

REVIEW: THE WORLD ISN’T THE SIZE OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD ANYMORE – AUSTIN DAVIS (WEASEL PRESS)

REVIEW: THE WORLD ISN’T THE SIZE OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD ANYMORE – AUSTIN DAVIS (WEASEL PRESS)

It’s an age of transition, somewhere between childhood and adulthood, on the blurry path to independence. 

REVIEW: LOOK LOOK LOOK – CALLISTA BUCHEN (BLACK LAWRENCE PRESS)

REVIEW: LOOK LOOK LOOK – CALLISTA BUCHEN (BLACK LAWRENCE PRESS)

There’s a sense of absence in this first section as the mother’s body becomes a singular state once again, but there’s also a slip from autonomy.

REVIEW: YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE A FRIEND – ASHLEY ELIZABETH (NIGHTINGALE & SPARROW PRESS)

REVIEW: YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE A FRIEND – ASHLEY ELIZABETH (NIGHTINGALE & SPARROW PRESS)

…Dear John letter, ending with the words, “you are hurting me. i am letting you. i do not want to.” There it is, cut and dry: a breakup. Except it’s not.

REVIEW: INEVITABLE IGNITION – KAYT CHRISTENSEN (WIDE EYES PUBLISHING)

Reading each section becomes the experience of the burning fire; it builds and burns and, even as it goes out, smolders and lingers long after it’s gone.