Review by Jessica Manack Kari Gunter-Seymour, whose term as Poet Laureate of Ohio was just extended by Governor Mike DeWine, is a people’s poet. She writes of her people, for her people, and spearheads the collection of regional voices…
Browsing: Book Reviews
Review by Mary Ellen Talley Susan Rich demonstrates her command of poetic imagery and manuscript crafting in her sixth collection, Blue Atlas. The title refers to the resilient blue-green tipped cedar tree that is native to North Africa. “Hourglass,”…
Review by Sharon Tracey I Say the Sky, the second poetry collection by Nadia Colburn—poet, teacher, literary critic, and writing coach—is an immersive and moving read—infused with earth, the body, family, memory, love and anxiety, environmental devastation and beauty,…
Review by Katie Kalisz In Emily Tuszynska’s debut poetry collection Surfacing, winner of the 2023 Grayson Books Poetry Contest, the speaker traces how a mother constantly self-divides and reemerges, “full of tenderness and dread” (19). The poems move between…
Review by Rachel Howe Lisa Grunberger is a real working writer whose work spans genres from poetry [I am dirty (Moonstone Publishing, 2019), Born Knowing (Finishing Line Press, 2012)] to fiction [Yiddish Yoga (Harper Collins, 2009)] to playwriting (Almost…
Review by Emily Webber If you’ve ever seen shed snakeskin, you’ll know it has intricate texture and patterns, the way the light catches it can make it seem otherworldly. Some see snakes as a bad omen, but the…
Review by DeMisty D. Bellinger In her latest poetry collection, Allison Blevins offers myriad perspective on pain, all kinds of pain, through unflinching poem after poem. Cataloging Pain documents physical pain experienced by a disabled body, as well as…
Review by Nicelle Davis Permit Me to Write My Ending by Rebecca Faulkner begins with a scene of a dying boy seemingly choosing to end his life by plunging into the sea. The poem raises questions about whether suicide is…
Review by Kelly R. Samuels Some of us collect stones; we line window ledges or fill bowls with them. We often think of them as static, unless moved by another—water, a person, an animal, a machine—or altered in color…
Review by Linda K. Sienkiewicz “There were herbs in the Waters of Massasauga swamp that could be rendered into medicines for just about every affliction: yarrow and plantain for bleeding wounds, elderberries and boneset for flu, willow bark for…