Tag: review

REVIEW: TRANSITORY BY SUBHAGA CRYSTAL BACON (BOA EDITIONS)

“Transitory should be essential reading for everyone, and it should be taught in every classroom – I don’t say that lightly or hyperbolically. This is not just one of the most important collections of the year, but one of the most important of our lifetime.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: ORGANS OF LITTLE IMPORTANCE BY ADRIENNE CHUNG (PENGUIN POETS)

“Organs of Little Importance is masterful and approachable, personal and universal. Chung is expert at blending sociopolitical critique and vulnerable anecdotes, effectively humanizing the issues at the core of identity formation, especially for women of color living in America.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: THE PENGUIN BOOK OF SPIRITUAL VERSE EDITED BY KAVEH AKBAR (PENGUIN CLASSICS)

“The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse is an immense undertaking, and Akbar proves the ideal editor for the anthology. He makes no claims to objectivity or totality, instead imploring readers to treat the book as a collection of those poems that have most impacted and enlightened him.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: REMOVAL ACTS BY ERIN MARIE LYNCH (GRAYWOLF PRESS)

“Lynch defies every expectation for a debut collection, brilliantly challenging what we know of the genre as well as how we approach physical space on the page.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: ANOTHER LAST CALL EDITED BY KAVEH AKBAR AND PAIGE LEWIS (SARABANDE BOOKS)

“Another Last Call, edited by Kaveh Akbar and Paige Lewis, is at once tender and visceral in its treatment of addiction, sobriety, and the seemingly indomitable will to survive.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: PERSONAL BEST EDITED BY ERIN BELIEU AND CARL PHILLIPS (COPPER CANYON PRESS)

“For readers who are often eager to hear what authors think about their own work, Personal Best is an especially exciting collection.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: ONCE A CITY SAID EDITED BY JOY PRIEST (SARABANDE BOOKS)

“For the lived experiences of those who call Louisville home, a vital reminder of the power inherent in refusing to relinquish our collective voices despite all efforts to silence us.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: A FILM IN WHICH I PLAY EVERYONE BY MARY JO BANG (GRAYWOLF PRESS)

“Mary Jo Bang proves herself intensely introspective, rooting each poem in the first person as she unpacks everything from the most minor memories to the most obviously life-altering events.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: FOUR IN HAND BY ALICIA MOUNTAIN (BOA EDITIONS)

“Four in Hand is a unique and challenging collection that, in many ways, uses the structures of the system to highlight the myriad flaws in that system.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: FANTASY OF LOVING THE FANTASY BY JENNIFER FUNK (BULL CITY PRESS)

“Fantasy of Loving the Fantasy is a collection that warps the mind of the reader in the most magnificent of ways as the reader comes to terms with the fantasy of this 21 st century living, this world where men still exert immeasurable control.”-A.R. Arthur

REVIEW: MUSIC HAS FAILED US BY IB — (SPOKEN WORD POETRY ALBUM)

“Nigerian spoken word poet IB reflects on the ultimate question: “What is the Nigerian dream?”.”-Chris L. Butler

REVIEW: HAVE YOU BEEN LONG ENOUGH AT THE TABLE BY LESLIE SAINZ (TIN HOUSE)

“Have You Been Long Enough at the Table is essential reading for anyone concerned with Latinx poetics and the diasporic experience, but it will resonate just as powerfully for those who turn to poetry as a space of introspection and healing.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: PIG BY SAM SAX (SCRIBNER)

Sam Sax follows up their award-winning collection Bury It with Pig, a staggeringly layered collection that meditates on the many iterations of the pig, literally and figuratively. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: CHOOSING TO BE SIMPLE: COLLECTED POEMS RED PINE BY TAO YUANMING (COPPER CANYON PRESS)

“I believe that Yuanming’s words speak to the complex psyche that exists within each and every one of us. This complexity of imagination is not time specific and only allows the reader to empathize further as this collection unfolds.”-A.R. Arthur

REVIEW: ALL SOULS BY SASKIA HAMILTON (GRAYWOLF PRESS)

“The collection, published posthumously, combines fragments, prose, and traditional verse, all of which give the book competing elements of incompleteness and finality.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: FLARE, CORONA BY JEANNINE HALL GAILEY (BOA EDITIONS)

“Flare, Corona is an essential addition to disability poetics, a collection that offers an unashamed and deeply vulnerable window into chronic illness.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: SOFT APOCALYPSE BY LEAH NIEBOER (UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESS)

“Soft Apocalypse is a collection of poetry that challenges the desecration of individualized humanity and the rampant ruination of collective humanity throughout this planet.”-A.R. Arthur

REVIEW: THE FERGUSON REPORT: AN ERASURE BY NICOLE SEALEY (KNOPF)

“Sealey highlights the potential violence beneath the interaction with deft efficiency.” – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: SNAKEDOCTOR BY MAURICE MANNING (COPPER CANYON PRESS)

“Snakedoctor by Maurice Manning is a sonorous collection that makes use of varying styles and forms that intrigue the reader and tantalize one’s senses.”-A.R. Arthur

REVIEW: NOT QUITE AN OCEAN BY ELIZABETH M. CASTILLO (NINE PENS POETS)

    Not Quite an Ocean by Elizabeth M. Castillo is a collection of poetry that speaks for the divine feminine and to the vapid undercurrents that constantly threaten. Castillo makes great use of the ocean as a metaphor both to affirm the notion that undercurrents are always there just

REVIEW: WEST: A TRANSLATION BY PAISLEY REKDAL (COPPER CANYON PRESS)

“West: A Translation presents the reader with unknown parallels, lived experiences and harsh realities forced onto many during the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Rekdal challenges the acceptance of this oppression whilst criticizing the disposability presented by white American legislation and governmental ambition that can only be said to be dangerously propagated by capitalist demands and pressures.” – A.R. Arthur

REVIEW: OTHERLIGHT BY JILL MCELDOWNEY (YES YES BOOKS)

“Mceldowney makes the reader contend with the stark reality that we often ignore in favor of living freely without fear of that assured ending, that sudden shift into the unknown. For this alone Mceldowney should be commended.” – A.R. Arthur

REVIEW: MARE’S NEST BY HOLLY MITCHELL (SARABANDE BOOKS)

Holly Mitchell offers one of the most unassuming debuts in recent memory, quietly yet faithfully interrogating life on a Kentucky horse farm and coming of age in the American South. Mare’s Nest is quiet, but never meek, a tone that mirrors the implied strength of every mare that graces its pages. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: THE KINGDOM OF SURFACES BY SALLY WEN MAO (GRAYWOLF PRESS)

The Kingdom of Surfaces is a book that will pull readers back again and again, offering new perspectives and insights each time they revisit a poem. Sally Wen Mao reasserts her place among the most celebrated writers of our time with her expansive and philosophical third collection. I, for one, can’t wait to see what she does next. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: THE THIRD RENUNCIATION BY MATTHEW E. HENRY (NYQ BOOKS)

“The Third Renunciation by Matthew E. Henry is a collection of sonnets that presents the theological in a way in which the reader is made to ruminate on their own faith and understanding of the divine, the religious and the unknown.” – A.R. Arthur

REVIEW: THE DIASPORA SONNETS BY OLIVER DE LA PAZ (LIVERIGHT PRESS)

Celebrated author Oliver de la Paz returns with his sixth full-length collection, The Diaspora Sonnets (Liveright Press, 2023), a brilliant follow-up to the cerebral and touching The Boy in the Labyrinth. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: I DONE CLICKED MY HEELS THREE TIMES BY TAYLOR BYAS (SOFT SKULL PRESS)

Award-winning poet Taylor Byas offers one of the summer’s best collections with her full-length debut, I Done Clicked My Heel Three Times, from Soft Skull Press. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: STILL FALLING BY JENNIFER GROTZ (GRAYWOLF PRESS)

Still Falling, the fourth collection from Jennifer Grotz, is a brief and impossibly rich exploration of loss, grief, and the unfettered will to endure. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: EPHEMERA BY SIERRA DEMULDER (BUTTON POETRY)

Readers familiar with DeMulder’s work will be at home with Ephemera, which taps into her keen ability to balance trauma with inner peace. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: POR SIEMPRE BY JOSE OLIVAREZ AND ANTONIO SALAZAR (HAYMARKET BOOKS)

Together, these two artists offer a starkly beautiful celebration of border communities that resists the tropes and mischaracterizations pervading American politics. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: I’M ALWAYS SO SERIOUS BY KARISMA PRICE (SARABANDE BOOKS)

I’m Always So Serious is among the best debuts in American poetry, and Price has established herself as one of the most preeminent voices of her generation. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: RADIOACTIVE WOLVES – AMY ROA (STEEL TOE BOOKS)

Amy Roa’s Radioactive Wolves is an intriguing collection, full of adventure, ponies, unicorns… and the struggle to survive the nagging hardship of the world. – Michael Imossan

REVIEW: IF SOME GOD SHAKES YOUR HOUSE – JENNIFER FRANKLIN (FOUR WAY BOOKS)

Franklin releases a fine collection, laced with the feminist struggle for freedom from patriarchy, love, loss, death, the finality of things, grief. – Michael Imossan

REVIEW: GENERAL RELEASE FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD – DONNA SPRUIJT-METZ (PARLOR PRESS)

Spruijt-Metz deftly explores the complexities of memory, healing, and the divine, delving into the profound connection between the present moment and beyond. – Martins Deep

REVIEW: VOZ – JENNIFER JEAN (LILY POETRY REVIEW)

Voz is a collection filled with adventures, beaches and forgiveness. – Michael Imossan

REVIEW: SALT WATER DEMANDS A PSALM BY KWEKU ABIMBOLA (GRAYWOLF PRESS)

This is a collection that far exceeds what readers might expect from a debut, quickly situating Abimbola as a preeminent and philosophical voice in American poetry. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: READING BERRYMAN TO THE DOG – WENDY TAYLOR (BELLE POINT PRESS)

Taylor’s newest is a bold affirmation of denial which is the first stage of grieving, how one refuses to acknowledge the “dead overrunning one’s street”. – Michael Imossan

REVIEW: PROMISES OF GOLD BY JOSE OLIVAREZ (HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY)

Olivarez is particularly masterful at writing from a place of vulnerability, exposing his flaws without ever leaning into self-deprecation. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: THE WEATHER GODS – SARAH ETLINGER (BARCLAY PRESS)

Etlinger’s The Weather Gods lives in the in-between—somewhere in the middle of ghosts and spirit, love and loss, memories and moments. – Michael Imossan

REVIEW: TRACE EVIDENCE BY CHARIF SHANAHAN (TIN HOUSE)

Trace Evidence is intensely complex and immediate, layered and poignant, positioned perfectly as a deeply personal and yet deeply relatable collection. – Ronnie K. Stephens

REVIEW: THE NAKED ROOM BY WILLA SCHNEBERG (BROADSTONE BOOKS)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

TPQ20: S4EP10 – NAT RAUM

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)

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)

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)

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

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: ICU BY COCO JONES

You
Yes you
I need you
– Reggie Johnson

REPLAYS: 3AM IN GLENWOOD BY 21 SAVAGE

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)

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

Blood again on my cardigan
Yes, we could’ve been more than friends
– Reggie Johnson

TPQ20 – S4EP3: DONNEY ROSE

Join Chris in conversation with performance poet, advocacy journalist, and teaching artist, Donney Rose, about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry!

REPLAYS: BET BY RUSS

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

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

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

REVIEW: BETWEEN EVERY BIRD, OUR BONES – EMET EZELL (NEWFOUND)

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

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

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)

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

Overdue for a reset
Been climbing mountains and mountains
But I haven’t peaked yet
Still gotta eat yet
– Reggie Johnson

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TPQ20: S3EP17 – JASMINNE MENDEZ

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!

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TPQ20 – SAIDA AGOSTINI BOSTIC

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

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)

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

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TPQ20: S3EP15 – DR. DESTINY O. BIRDSONG

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

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

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TPQ20: S3EP14 – SANDRA CISNEROS

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)

“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)

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

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)

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

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TPQ20: S3E12 – INK

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

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

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

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

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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

REPLAYS: PICTURE IN MY MIND BY PINK PANTHERESS & SAM GELLAITRY

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)

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)

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

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)

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

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”

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

REPLAYS: GRAND BY KANE BROWN

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)

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: YOUR EMERGENCY CONTACT HAS EXPERIENCED AN EMERGENCY – CHEN CHEN (BOA EDITIONS LTD)

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

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)

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

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)

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