REVIEW: TRACE EVIDENCE BY CHARIF SHANAHAN (TIN HOUSE)
March 30, 2023
Trace Evidence is intensely complex and immediate, layered and poignant, positioned perfectly as a deeply personal and yet deeply relatable collection. – Ronnie K. Stephens
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REVIEW: THE NAKED ROOM BY WILLA SCHNEBERG (BROADSTONE BOOKS)
February 14, 2023
Add Schneberg to the list of authors you turn to, in your own crises and in the crises of others. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REVIEW: UNSHUTTERED BY PATRICIA SMITH (NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY PRESS)
January 24, 2023
I hold my breath to tempt the light. This portrait should engage the interest of some decorous and cultivated gent accustomed to the ways of wooing. All my life I’ve sent so many men so many signals, just to be upstaged… From “7” Patricia Smith reasserts herself as one
REVIEW: DIVINATION WITH A HUMAN HEART ATTACHED – EMILY STODDARD (GAME OVER BOOKS)
January 19, 2023
Armed with surrealism, Stoddard breaks free from the constraints of reality in order to tap into the realm of the irrational and dreamlike. – Martins Deep
REVIEW: A TINDERBOX IN THREE ACTS – CYNTHIA DEWI OKA (BOA EDITIONS)
January 17, 2023
Astronauts claim it takes leaving earth to know earth, how alone and woven we are, o zone, how wondrously thin the layer of glow defending us from obliteration. From “March in the Garden of Ghosts” Cynthia Dewi Oka draws on newly classified documents around the 1965 genocide
REVIEW: SWEET, YOUNG, AND WORRIED – BLYTHE BAIRD (BUTTON POETRY)
December 29, 2022
Baird truly pours her heart onto each page, and it can be felt beating in every single word. – Isabella Ciraco
REVIEW: FROM FROM – MONICA YOUN (GRAYWOLF PRESS)
December 28, 2022
From From offers an opportunity to consider what it means to be an American, to reach inside oneself to critically examine the ways in which western ideology has impacted colonization and racial identity. – Catie L. Young
REVIEW: SYMMETRY OF FISH – SU CHO (PENGUIN BOOKS)
December 27, 2022
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)
December 27, 2022
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
TPQ20: S4EP10 – NAT RAUM
December 19, 2022
Join Chris in conversation with Nat Raum, Editor of Fifth Wheel Press, about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry!
REVIEW: BORROWING YOUR BODY – LAURA PASSIN (RIOT IN YOUR THROAT)
December 5, 2022
Through Passin’s use of varying structures, consistent diction, powerful imagery, and unique metaphors, it will seem… you are borrowing her body and feeling it as your very own. – Ciraco
REVIEWS: O – ZEINA HASHEM BECK (PENGUIN POETS)
December 2, 2022
Zeina Hashem Beck quickly and repeatedly establishes herself as one of the most talented formal technicians in contemporary poetry – Ronnie K. Stephens
THE STUDY OF HUMAN LIFE – JOSHUA BENNETT (PENGUIN POETS)
November 30, 2022
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
REPLAYS: FEEL ALRIGHT BY KRIIISPY
November 29, 2022
This year I been moving different
People acting mad funny – Peter griffin
People shooting for the stars
When they should’ve just stayed wishing
– Reggie Johnson
REPLAYS: 3AM IN GLENWOOD BY 21 SAVAGE
November 8, 2022
Take it back to the time
To who was really riding with me
And not just in the passenger seat
– Reggie Johnson
TPQ20 – S4EP4: BILLY COLLINS (fmr. UNITED STATES POET LAUREATE)
November 7, 2022
Join Chris in conversation with former United States Poet Laureate and author of Musical Tables (Random House), Billy Collins, about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry!
REPLAYS: SHIRT BY SZA
November 1, 2022
Blood again on my cardigan
Yes, we could’ve been more than friends
– Reggie Johnson
TPQ20 – S4EP3: DONNEY ROSE
October 30, 2022
Join Chris in conversation with performance poet, advocacy journalist, and teaching artist, Donney Rose, about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry!
REPLAYS: BET BY RUSS
October 26, 2022
Bet
I’m over here just matching my energy
You sigh in relief
But there ain’t no relief in me
– Reggie Johnson
SPEAK FREELY: MEMORY AND ALTERNATE HISTORIES AS CATHARSIS
October 26, 2022
Franny Choi’s “Wildlife” and “Demilitarized Zone” both offer excellent frameworks to facilitate lessons that center retrofitted memory and alternate history as a cathartic process. – Ronnie K. Stephens
TPQ20 – S4EP2: COURTNEY FAYE TAYLOR
October 23, 2022
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
October 18, 2022
I ain’t mixy
If my actions change
Adjusting to your nonsense
Now all of sudden I’m acting strange
– Reggie Johnson
REVIEW: BETWEEN EVERY BIRD, OUR BONES – EMET EZELL (NEWFOUND)
October 17, 2022
The equation is one, in which, survival and domestic intimacy, are constants. It is true then, that emet ezell was first, a witness, before being identified as a poet. – Martins Deep
TPQ20 – S4EP1: LUTHER HUGHES
October 16, 2022
Join Chris of The Poetry Question in a sit down with Luther Hughes, author of Shiver in the Leaves, about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry.
REPLAYS: BIG MAD BY KTLYN
October 11, 2022
Had to spell it out for you
On my national Scripps
Quiet ones to watch
Since we stay tight lipped
Readying my arsenal
Stay fully equipped
– Reggie Johnson
REVIEW: CONSTELLATION ROUTE – MATTHEW OLZMANN (ALICE JAMES BOOKS)
October 7, 2022
Olzmann’s choice to fully immerse himself in the epistle offers a chance to display his range of voice, to give space to seemingly disparate social inequities, to remain constantly intimate in his conversation with the reader.
REPLAYS: RESET BY NAV & BRYSON TILLER
October 4, 2022
Overdue for a reset
Been climbing mountains and mountains
But I haven’t peaked yet
Still gotta eat yet
– Reggie Johnson
TPQ20: S3EP17 – JASMINNE MENDEZ
October 3, 2022
Join Chris of The Poetry Question in a sit down with Jasminne Mendez, Author of City Without Altar (Noemi Press), about passions, process, pitfalls, & Poetry!
TPQ20 – SAIDA AGOSTINI BOSTIC
September 25, 2022
Join Chris in a sit down with Saida Agostini Bostic, author of Let the Dead In (Alan Squire Publishing), about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry!
REPLAYS: WHO’S GONNA LOVE YOU TONIGHT BY SNAKEHIPS & TINASHE
September 21, 2022
Who’s gonna love you
If you can’t love yourself
Because the actions that you did
Were bad for my mental health
– Reggie Johnson
REVIEW: SO TALL IT ENDS IN HEAVEN – JAYME RINGLEB (TIN HOUSE)
September 20, 2022
Debut author Jayme Ringleb has mastered the art of language that yearns, of metronomic white space that beats with all the quiet inevitability of an unrequited heart. – Ronnie K. Stephens
TPQ20: S3EP15 – DR. DESTINY O. BIRDSONG
September 18, 2022
Join Chris in a sit down with Dr. Destiny O. Birdsong, author of Nobody’s Magic (Grand Central Publishing) and Negotiations (Tin House), about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry!
REPLAYS: OUTSIDE BY BRYSON TILLER
September 13, 2022
Luckily I clean it up well
Yeah prepare for the tide
Not a stain on me
We take off on our ride
– Reggie Johnson
TPQ20: S3EP14 – SANDRA CISNEROS
September 12, 2022
Join Chris in a sit-down with the legendary Sandra Cisneros, author of Woman Without Shame (Alfred A. Knopf), about passions, process, pitfalls, and poetry!
REVIEW: NIGHT SWIM – JOAN KWON GLASS (DIODE EDITIONS)
September 9, 2022
“This collection is a testament to love beyond mortal remains, beyond the bleak stillness of nights and days consumed by stages of grief….” – A.R. Salandy
REVIEW: ALIVE AT THE END OF THE WORLD – SAEED JONES (COFFEE HOUSE PRESS)
September 7, 2022
Jones reaffirms his place as one of the most talented living poets writing in English with this collection, demonstrating an ever-evolving mastery of language and a distinct eye for structural balance. – Ronnie K. Stephens
TPQ20: S3EP13 – AURIELLE MARIE
September 5, 2022
Join Chris in a sit-down with Aurielle Marie, author of Gumbo Ya Ya (University of Pittsburgh Press), about passions, process, pitfalls, and poetry!
REVIEW: A SHIVER IN THE LEAVES – LUTHER HUGHES (BOA EDITIONS)
August 29, 2022
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
TPQ20: S3E12 – INK
August 28, 2022
Join Chris in a sit-down with @ink_just_ink, EiC of @StanzaCannon and author of 61 Central (@FLPress), about passions, process, pitfalls, and poetry!
TALK TO ME: NOLCHA FOX
August 26, 2022
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
Speak Freely: Imperative Voice and the Performance of Womanhood
August 24, 2022
Xie’s use of the imperative voice, intentionally or not, mirrors the language in Kincaid’s text, and both authors use the imperative specifically to convey expectations to younger generations of women. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REPLAYS: TOXIC BY YG
August 23, 2022
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: S3EP11 – H. MELT
August 21, 2022
Join Chris in a sit down with H. MELT, about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry!
REVIEW: LOTUS & THE APOCALYPSE – AUSTIN DAVIS (OUTCAST PRESS)
August 18, 2022
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
REPLAYS: PICTURE IN MY MIND BY PINK PANTHERESS & SAM GELLAITRY
August 16, 2022
You’re no longer a need
No longer a want
A picture in my mind
My dreams you won’t haunt
– Reggie Johnson
REVIEW: MAGNOLIA – NINA MINGYA POWLES (TIN HOUSE)
August 16, 2022
The poems are clearly the work of someone who has dedicated significant time to craft, & who approaches language like an anthropologist or philosopher might. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REVIEW: THE WET HEX – SUN YUNG SHIN (COFFEE HOUSE PRESS)
August 11, 2022
At the heart of the poem is an image of the author’s passport, effectively bridging mythos and history to highlight a long and violent legacy of colonialism and its impact on colonized peoples. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REPLAYS: I LITERALLY NEVER THINK ABOUT YOU BY KYLE
August 10, 2022
No matter the companionship
Friend, coworker or foe
You’ll never catch me banana slip
I literally never think about you
I just stack chips and I dip
– Reggie Johnson
REVIEW: SO, STRANGER – TOPAZ WINTERS (BUTTON POETRY)
August 3, 2022
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
REPLAYS: NEW TO YOU BY CALVIN HARRIS, NORMANI, TINASHE & OFFSET
August 2, 2022
Now we just on the road
No one knows where we going
Has the love come and gone
Did we miss the moment?
– Reggie Johnson
SPEAK FREELY: MEANING AND METAPHOR IN RACHEL MCKIBBENS’ “THE WIDOWER”
July 28, 2022
Rachel McKibbens “The Widower” captures students because it’s visceral, emotional, and refuses to be ignored. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REPLAYS: GRAND BY KANE BROWN
July 26, 2022
I had thoughts
Deep thoughts
Of me, myself and the pen
Replay the moment in my head
Not taking it for granted again
Some people say they family
And they never been a kin
– Reggie Johnson
REVIEW: DIARIES OF A TERRORIST – CHRISTOPHER SOTO (COPPER CANYON PRESS)
July 20, 2022
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
July 19, 2022
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)
July 18, 2022
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: YOUR EMERGENCY CONTACT HAS EXPERIENCED AN EMERGENCY – CHEN CHEN (BOA EDITIONS LTD)
July 14, 2022
The risk of centering a speaker who is, at times, painfully self-involved is significant, but Chen balances these sentiments with frequent moments of grace, desire and appreciation. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REPLAYS: KARMA BY SUMMER WALKER
July 12, 2022
There is a fine line
In the root of good and evil
So stop it with this balancing act
– Reggie Johnson
REVIEW: TIME IS A MOTHER – OCEAN VUONG (PENGUIN PRESS)
July 11, 2022
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
SATURDAY T-SHIRT ALERT
July 9, 2022
𝐏𝐎𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐘? 𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐇.
It’s the only shirt your kid’s teacher won’t dress code them on.
REVIEW: ALL THE BLOOD INVOLVED IN LOVE (HAYMARKET BOOKS)
June 29, 2022
Maya Marshall’s debut interrogates the current sociopolitical nature and its threat to reproductive rights, choice, and Blackness. – Caitie L. Young
REPLAYS: BREAK MY SOUL BY BEYONCÉ
June 28, 2022
They don’t like us outside
But now we ain’t gonna be inside
From the inside, I can see your insides
Looks like y’all don’t like yourself inside
y’all should’ve kept your opinions inside
– Reggie Johnson
REPLAYS: SURPRISE BY CHLÖE BAILEY
June 21, 2022
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)
June 21, 2022
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
REPLAYS: SAVE ME BY DANNY LONDON & HALFOFYOU
June 15, 2022
Running from the fears
When it’s coming from the inside
No more counted out
No where for me to hide
Who knows what happens when
Pain and perseverance collides?
– Reggie Johnson
RELEASE DAY: HALF-BRED – ANTHONY SALANDY
June 14, 2022
Order your copy of A.R. Salandy’s Half-Bred! Only 100 copies available!
SPEAK FREELY: MENTAL HEALTH AND THE POETICS OF COLLECTIVE HEALING
May 25, 2022
Discussing mental health in the classroom can be incredibly daunting, especially as educators face public criticism and accusations of indoctrinating students. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REPLAYS: WAVES – RUSS
May 24, 2022
Sometimes I feel overwhelmed and I just need to breathe
Inhale exhale put my mind at ease
– Reggie Johnson
REVIEW: THE TREES WITNESS EVERYTHING – VICTORIA CHANG (COPPER CANYON PRESS)
May 23, 2022
Each section speaks to a specific season, emphasizing the passage of time and its effect on our understanding of the world around us. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REVIEW: THE HURTING KIND – ADA LIMÓN (MILKWEED EDITIONS)
May 16, 2022
If I was going to try and convince someone that poetry is our most important verbal art, I would start with The Hurting Kind. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REPLAYS: BE FORREAL BY BLXST
April 26, 2022
For me it’s sink or swim
Too many people I extended branches
And gone out on a limb
The switch up is contagious
Many do it on a whim
– Reggie Johnson
SPEAK FREELY: NATIONAL POETRY MONTH EDITION
April 20, 2022
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: SPELLS OF MY NAME – I.S. JONES (NEWFOUND)
April 12, 2022
This entire collection is a canal–a wrenching chasm opening for rebirth–a witness to the psyche, split apart, in a world ruled by men who abandoned their humanity for the sake of domination. – Melissa Ferrer
REVIEW: AGAINST HEAVEN – KEMI ALABI (GRAYWOLF PRESS)
April 11, 2022
“Against Heaven is an ode to blackness with a question mark to Black Christianity. It is a tribute to queerness and transness. It is a love letter to polyamory, and the lovers had and yet to have….” Lyra Thomas
REPLAYS: LITTLE STORY – KEHLANI
March 1, 2022
The nightmare is when all the magic stops
Boogeyman syndrome, stay away
– Reggie Johnson
REVIEW: BLOODFRESH BY EBONY STEWART (BUTTON POETRY)
February 22, 2022
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: CONNOTARY – AE HEE LEE (BULL CITY PRESS)
February 21, 2022
Connotary is an incantation into remembrance. And an edification from where one has been and is always going. And still is also this gift, this display, of honor and renewal. – Melissa Ferrer
TPQ20: S2EP5 – JAE NICHELLE
February 16, 2022
Join Chris and Courtney in a sit down with @CropTopAssassin, author of The Porch (@yesyesbooks), in a conversation about passions, process, pitfalls, and poetry!
EVERYTHING IS A POEM: SPAM AND SOY SAUCE SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH RICE
January 13, 2022
There’s a deep hurt I feel when I share my food with others and they respond with, “That looks gross!” – Alex Dang
TPQ20: EPISODE 22 – REAGAN MYERS
December 15, 2021
Chris sits down for a one-on-one with Reagan Myers, author of Afterwards (Button Poetry), to talk about passions, process, pitfalls, poetry… and YA lit!
TPQ20: EPISODE 16 – TAYLOR BYAS
November 24, 2021
Chris sits down for a one-on-one conversation with Taylor Byas, author of Bloodwarm (Variant Lit), for a conversation about passions, process, pitfalls, and poetry!
TALK TO ME: CLAIRE TAYLOR
November 17, 2021
“I wonder if I can write an entire manuscript centered around the lines from [the Growing Pains] theme song. And that is what I did”. – Claire Taylor
REVIEW: EVERY JOURNAL IS A PLAGUE JOURNAL – RAYE HENDRIX (BOTTLECAP PRESS)
November 12, 2021
“Hendrix does not shy away from the complex, daily horrors that were ushered in, and the microscopic to multidimensional trauma that came from hearing the city cheer nightly, like a ritual or like war”. – Rachael Crosbie
EVERYTHING IS A POEM: BETTER CALL SOMEBODY, AND PLEASE DON’T YELL
October 27, 2021
“I have also tried to be somebody that I’m not. It hurts to crack yourself into multiple parts. It is the loudest noise. It breaks you”. – Alex Dang
REPLAYS: OVER – DRAKE
August 16, 2021
The song served as a reintroduction for my love for writing. For the first time, I was able to combine my love for both music and writing together.
REPLAYS: CAN’T TOUCH THIS – MC HAMMER
August 9, 2021
My love for music dates back to me being a kid, where whenever my mom needed to occupy my time while she was busy, she would turn on the music videos.
BROWN STUDY: “OMELET” – ZORA SATCHELL
June 30, 2021
What sustains us? What nourishes our bones and our souls? How do we sustain each other? In the space between our most authentic selves and our most complicated desires, how do we connect with one another?
REPLAYS: “LOVE ME LIKE YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME” – KYLE
June 29, 2021
Should’ve learned to love me
By asking questions
Instead of taking my actions for granted
And second guessing
My motives
My intentions
REVIEW: APPLE SKIN – KELSIE COLCLOUGH (SWORD & KETTLE / CUP & DAGGER).
June 24, 2021
All in all, it’s a one for one exchange of the original myth, albeit more fleshed out, modern, and quietly queer. – Lannie Stabile
REVIEW: LOVE MOST OF YOU TOO – DUSTIN BROOKSHIRE (HARBOR EDITIONS)
June 23, 2021
This chapbook showcases a voice reclaiming words meant to hurt, detailing the traits wanted in a lover, and reminding the reader “not to accept what’s in front of you / at face value.”
REPLAYS: NO TIME BY KRIIISPY & M.I.L.O.
June 22, 2021
She says her time is money
And I don’t have time to waste
Tired of dealing with the same dudes
Done with the copy and paste
Babygirl just like wine and I’m trying to have a taste
REVIEWS: “THE DANDELION SPEAKS OF SURVIVAL” QUINTIN COLLINS (CHERRY CASTLE PUBLISHING)
June 19, 2021
What makes The Dandelion Speaks of Survival special is that it is more than a collection by a Black writer, but rather an Ode to Blackness.
REVIEW: “MIXTAPES” – RACHAEL CROSBIE (ELJ EDITIONS)
June 17, 2021
In each poem, readers can feel the undeniable aspect that, like nearly all mixtapes, this chapbook is for somebody (at the very least, the amalgamation of “you” that exists in all of our longings).
REPLAYS: “PASADENA” BY TINASHE & BUDDY
June 15, 2021
Filled with positivity
Strengthening my sanity
Took last year
As a moment of clarity
The things you see now
Bask in the rarity
REPLAYS: “SUN GOES DOWN” – LIL NAS X
May 25, 2021
Didn’t know what depression felt like
Until I was nineteen
It took my crown and the jewels
And said it was fit to be king
REPLAYS: SEEING GREEN BY NICKI MINAJ, DRAKE, & LIL’ WAYNE
May 18, 2021
I been doing this here since Wayne’s dedication
I been doing this here, hear the dedication
I’ve been doing this hair, na look at the transformation
Went bald on everyone
And look how things shaping up
If you ain’t growing with me
Then you had to be cut
REVIEW: DESCANSOS – KATHERINE OSBORNE (SALO PRESS)
May 14, 2021
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.
“MY MFA ONLY MADE MY BLENDER WHIR FASTER”: TALK TO ME: CHRISTINE SLOAN STODDARD
May 13, 2021
I used discarded camera and computer parts to print into clay tablets. I bleached chicken bones, spray-painted various objects, drew large-scale oil pastel scenery, and cut up old books all for art installations.
REPLAYS: WHAT YOU NEED – DON TOLIVER
May 11, 2021
I can be your new edition
Can you stand the rain
And when the grey clouds roll away
Does the sun reveal your pain
REVIEW: PICNIC IN THE ABATTOIR – EMMA HYCHE (DANCING GIRL PRESS)
May 11, 2021
But as the moments move forward, nothing breaking through the quiet, we are met with the release of breath the speaker has been holding for far too long