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The Clearing by Allison Adair, reviewed by Dasha Bulatova

Dasha Bulatova

The Clearing by Allison Adair

The Clearing by Allison Adair – Winner of the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize / Milkweed Editions / 978-1-57131-514-4 / 88 pages / June 9, 2020 I first cracked open Alison Adair’s The … [Read more...]

Funny Weather by Olivia Laing, reviewed by Callum McAllister

Callum McAllister

Funny Weather by Olivia Laing

Funny Weather by Olivia Laing / Picador / 368 pages / 2020 It feels as though we are living in an alternate timeline. Sometime in 2016, we entered a parallel version of history and have not since … [Read more...]

The Soul in Paraphrase, the Heart in Pilgrimage: Amounting to Nothing by Paul Quenon, reviewed by Gregory Stephenson

Gregory Stephenson

Amounting to Nothing: Poems by Paul Quenon

Amounting to Nothing by Paul Quenon, OSCO / Paraclete Press / 978-1-64060-201-4 / 93 pages / 2019 The coincidence of a vocation as monk and a vocation as poet — though far from commonplace — is one … [Read more...]

Finding Freedom in the Female Voice: Threed: This Road Not Damascus by Tamara J. Madison, reviewed by Jessica Gigot

Jessica Gigot

Review of Threed by Tamara Madison poems

Threed: This Road Not Damascus by Tamara J. Madison / Trio House Press / 2019 In Threed: This Road Not Damascus, Tamara Madison’s first full-length collection of poetry, this poet and … [Read more...]

Music In A Blade of Glass: Jim Whiteside’s Writing Your Name on the Glass, reviewed by Alina Stefanescu

Alina Stefanescu

Jim Whiteside - Writing Your Name On the Glass - Bull City Press

Writing Your Name On the Glass by Jim Whiteside / Bull City Press / 35 pages / 978-1-949344-08-0 / 2019 fugue (n.) in music, a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase … [Read more...]

Read The Fabulous Ekphrastic Fantastic! by Miah Jeffra With Multiple Browser Tabs Open — a review by Laura Eppinger

Laura Eppinger

Miah Jeffra essays The Fabulous Ekphrastic Fantastic!

The Fabulous Ekphrastic Fantastic! by Miah Jeffra / Sibling Rivalry Press / 978-1-943977-73-4 / 140 pages / March 20, 2020 An ekphrastic piece of writing responds to a work of art--usually one … [Read more...]

Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House, reviewed by Emma Gregory

Emma Gregory

review of In the Dream House - Carmen Maria Machado

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado / Graywolf Press / 264 pages / November 5, 2019 In the Dream House follows the story of Machado’s own relationship with an emotionally and … [Read more...]

Writing for Human Dignity: Mao’s Town by Xie Hong, reviewed by Tang Qiyun

TANG Qiyun, Sun Jicheng and Hal Swindall

Mao's Town by Xie Hong

Mao's Town by XIE Hong / Whyte Tracks / 978-8-792632-93-7 / 2018 / 204 pages This review is written by TANG Qiyun, and translated from Chinese by SUN Jicheng and Hal Swindall. If Jean-Paul … [Read more...]

Hope Amidst Uncertainty: Subduction by Kristen Millares Young, reviewed by Jessica Gigot

Jessica Gigot

Subduction by Kristen Millares Young

Subduction by Kristen Millares Young / Red Hen Press / 978-1-59709-892-2 / 240 pages / April 14, 2020 What happens when the world as you know it changes course? When your seemingly rock-solid … [Read more...]

The Elvis Machine by Kim Vodicka, reviewed by Alex Carrigan

Alex Carrigan

The Elvis Machine by Kim Vodicka, reviewed by Alex Carrigan

The Elvis Machine by Kim Vodicka / Clash Books / 978-1944866648 / May 2020 It’s fascinating that America, despite the passage of time and more updated social and cultural norms, still can’t get … [Read more...]

José Manuel Cardona’s Birnam Wood translated by Hélène Cardona, reviewed by Neil Leadbeater

Neil Leadbeater

José Manuel Cardona's Birnam Wood translated by Hélène Cardona

Birnam Wood / El Bosque de Birnam: Antología poética. A Bilingual Edition with English translation by Hélène Cardona / Salmon Poetry / 94 pages / 2018 Poet, writer, and translator José Manuel … [Read more...]

Dawn’s Fool by Kyla Houbolt, reviewed by K Weber

K Weber

Dawn's Fool - Kyla Houbolt

Dawn’s Fool by Kyla Houbolt / IceFloe Press / 2020 Kyla Houbolt’s debut microchap, Dawn’s Fool, portrays nature with reverence and the act of communing. This may be no surprise to those of us who … [Read more...]

Mesmerizinlgy Sadly Beautiful by Matthew Lippman, reviewed by Rochelle Jewel Shapiro

Rochelle Jewel Shapiro

Mesmerizingly Sadly Beautiful by Matthew Lippman (poetry)

Mesmerizinlgy Sadly Beautiful by Matthew Lippman / Four Way Books / 978-1945588488 / 64 pages / March 2, 2020 The award-winning poet, Matthew Lippman, has won yet another award, this time … [Read more...]

Heart Like a Window, Mouth Like a Cliff by Sara Borjas, reviewed by Tatiana M.R. Johnson

Tatiana M.R. Johnson

Heart Like a Window, Mouth Like a Cliff

Heart like a Window, Mouth like a Cliff: Poems by Sara Borjas / Noemi Press, Inc. / / 978-1-934819-79-1 March 15, 2019 / 95 pages / $15 Sara Borjas’ Heart Like a Window, Mouth Like a Cliff … [Read more...]

The Utterance of Poison and Pain: Toxicon and Arachne by Joyelle McSweeney, reviewed by Mike Corrao

Mike Corrao

Toxicon and Arachne by Joyelle McSweeney

Toxicon and Arachne by Joyelle McSweeney / Nightboat Books / 9781643620183 / 112 pages / April 7, 2020 From the author of The Necropastoral (University of Michigan Press 2015) and Percussion … [Read more...]

To Keep from Turning Away: Ghost Dogs by Dion O’Reilly, reviewed by Michele Sharpe

Michele Sharpe

Ghost Dogs by Dion O'Reilly, Terrapin Books

Ghost Dogs by Dion O’Reilly / Terrapin Books / 978-1947896239 / 106 pages / February 17, 2020 Ghost Dogs, a witness to evisceration in five untitled parts, begins with pure gore. The poems appear … [Read more...]

Unnatural Habitats & Other Stories​ by Angela Mitchell, reviewed by Michael Caylo-Baradi

Michael Caylo-Baradi

UNNATURAL HABITATS & OTHER STORIES by Angela Mitchell

Unnatural Habitats & Other Stories by Angela Mitchell / WTAW Press / 978-0-9988014-6-9 / 2018 In “Animal Lover,” the first story in Unnatural​ Habitats & Other Stories​, we encounter a post-sex … [Read more...]

Death Industrial Complex by Candice Wuehle, reviewed by Tom Snarsky

Tom Snarsky

Death Industrial Complex - poems by Candice Wuehle

Death Industrial Complex by Candice Wuehle / Action Books / 978-0-900575-06-8 / paperback / 85 pages / April 1, 2020 If you love the life and work of Francesca Woodman, odds are good you have had … [Read more...]

Moth by Alice Pettway, reviewed by Mary Ellen Talley

Mary Ellen Talley

Moth by Alice Pettway - Salmon Poetry

Moth by Alice Pettway / Salmon Poetry / 2019 / 978-1-912561-39-1 / 64 pages Alice Pettway’s second full-length collection of poetry, Moth, is full of tight poems of travel, remembrance, nature, … [Read more...]

Red Rover, Red Lover by Preston Smith, reviewed by K Weber

K Weber

review: Red Rover, Red Lover, poems by Preston Smith

Red Rover, Red Lover by Preston Smith / Roaring Junior Press / March 10, 2020 Mythology and outer space, corporeal bodies and celestial bodies interplay in stanzas and dance through couplets in … [Read more...]

Praising the Paradox by Tina Schumann, reviewed by Mary Ellen Talley

Mary Ellen Talley

Praising the Paradox, by Tina Schumann

Praising the Paradox by Tina Schumann / Red Hen Press / 2019 / 109 pages / 978-1-59709-617-1 Tina Schumann’s newest volume of poems, Praising the Paradox, speaks of seasons, relationships, and … [Read more...]

Little Masticated Darlings by Lannie Stabile, reviewed by Danielle Rose

Danielle Rose

Lannie Stabile - Little Masticated Darlings

Little Masticated Darlings by Lannie Stabile / Wild Pressed Books / December 5, 2019 Memory is fragile and unreliable. We know this as studies have shown a distinct relationship between the called … [Read more...]

Birds Fly Over the Rainbow, Why Then, Oh, Why Can’t I? On Lanette Cadle’s The Tethered Ground

Lindsey Novak

The Tethered Ground by Lanette Cadle review

The Tethered Ground by Lanette Cadle / Woodley Press / 2019 / 978-0998700366 / 102 pages “You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.” —Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon … [Read more...]

David Hanlon’s Spectrum of Flight, reviewed by Kaleb Tutt

Kaleb Tutt

Spectrum of Flight, poems by David Hanlon

Spectrum of Flight by David Hanlon / Animal Heart Press / February 18, 2020 David Hanlon captures readers from the beginning of his evocative, shockingly vulnerable “Spectrum of Flight”. When I … [Read more...]

The Joyous Silence, Selected Poems by Maxim Amelin, trans. by Derek Mong and Anne O. Fisher, reviewed by Elias Siqueiros

Elias Siqueiros

The Joyous Science - Maxim Amelin

The Joyous Science, Selected Poems by Maxim Amelin. Translated by Derek Mong and Anne O. Fisher / White Pine Press / 2018 / 978-1-945680-19-9 / 180 pages Part of the excitement of coming across the … [Read more...]

The Fire Eater by Jose Hernandez Diaz, reviewed by Bailey Cohen-Vera

Bailey Cohen-Vera

The Fire Eater. Prose poems by Jose Hernandez Diaz

The Fire Eater by Jose Hernandez Diaz / Texas Review Press / 978-1-68003-208-6 / February 14, 2020 Jose Hernandez Diaz’s debut chapbook of prose poems is a delightful exploration of the … [Read more...]

Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell, reviewed by Bethany Darby

Bethany Darby

Review of Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell

Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell / Riverhead Books / 2019 / 978-0399184628 / 240 pages “In the flat darkness of the countryside. There is only disappointment, … [Read more...]

All That Shines Under the Hollywood Sign by Iris Berry, reviewed by Marc Olmsted

Marc Olmsted

Iris Berry

All That Shines Under the Hollywood Sign by Iris Berry, with illustrations by Scott Archer / Punk Hostage Press / 978-1940213057 / November 11, 2019 / 21 pages You've heard this: Hollywood is a … [Read more...]

Divided Loyalties by Nilofar Shidmehr, reviewed by Lea Bickel

Lea Bickel

Divided Loyalties by Nilofar Shidmehr

Divided Loyalties by Nilofar Shidmehr / House of Anansi / 978-1487006020 / 2019 / 320 pages With Divided Loyalties, Nilofar Shidmehr takes on the demanding challenge of uniting historical … [Read more...]

The Ribbon Around the Bomb by Elizabeth Levine, reviewed by Dimitri Reyes

Dimitri Reyes

The Ribbon Around the Bomb - Elizabeth Levine

The Ribbon Around the Bomb by Elizabeth Levine / Finishing Line Press / 2019 Elizabeth Levine is a trilingual writer who teaches creative writing at William Paterson University in New Jersey. As … [Read more...]

Memory as Mapmaking: Reading Chew Yi Wei’s Indelible City, by Matthew Wu

Matthew Wu

Chew Yi Wei - Indelible City

Indelible City by Chew Yi Wei / Marshall Cavendish International / 2018 / 9789814794251 / 112 pages Chew Yi Wei's book Indelible City begins with a map. It is haphazardly drawn and populated by … [Read more...]

“Where the water flows down”: Wounds of Heritage and Home in Eunice Andrada’s Flood Damages

Kaya Lattimore

Eunice Andrada, Flood Damages

Flood Damages by Eunice Andrada / Giramondo / Sydney, Australia / 2018 Eunice Andrada’s Flood Damages is a forceful debut poetry collection that explores narratives of diaspora, family and … [Read more...]

Jericho Brown’s The Tradition, reviewed by Daschielle Louis

Daschielle Louis

Jericho Brown - The Tradition

The Tradition by Jericho Brown / Copper Canyon Press / 2019 / 978-1556594861 Soft. When a baby is born, we call their skin, their eyes, and the top of their heads soft. Soft hair. Soft baby. … [Read more...]

Shelter in Place by Catherine Kyle, reviewed by Alexis David

Alexis David

Catherine Kyle - Shelter in Place

Shelter In Place by Catherine Kyle / Spuyten Duyvil / 978-1-949966-40-4 / 84 pages Shelter In Place is a book which investigates safety while being under attack. Catherine Kyle divides the … [Read more...]

Imagine Touching Words: A New Lispector for Readers of English, reviewed by Pınar Türer

Pınar Türer

The Besieged City by Clarice Lispector, translated by Jonny Lorenz (New Directions)

The Besieged City by Clarice Lispector. Trans. by Johnny Lorenz & Ed. by Benjamin MoserNew Directions / Penguin Random House / 2019 Lucrécia Neves “mulls over her inability to reason"; when we … [Read more...]

The Word Pretty by Elisa Gabbert, reviewed by Marilyn Duarte

Marilyn Duarte

The Word Pretty by Elisa Gabbert / essays

The Word Pretty by Elisa Gabbert / Black Ocean Press / November 15, 2018 / 184 pages / $18.95 The Word Pretty by Elisa Gabbert is divided into three sections and consists of twenty-two short … [Read more...]

New poetry books by Harmony Holiday, Christina Xiong, and Lily Trotta, reviewed by Clara B. Jones

Clara B. Jones

reviews of books by Christina Xiong, Harmony Holiday, and Lily Trotta

“When a woman tells the truth, she is creating the possibility for more truth around her.” —Adrienne Rich In Maafa (Fence Books, 2020), Harmony Holiday crafts a surrealistic tale employing … [Read more...]

On Courage, Hope, and Reclaiming the Future: A Personal Reflection on Marisa Crane’s Our Debatable Bodies, by Heather Derr-Smith

Heather Derr-Smith

Our Debatable Bodies - Marisa Crane poetry chapbook

Marisa Crane’s new book of poetry, Our Debatable Bodies, published by Animal Heart Press, 2019 was a welcome companion to me as I journeyed alone across Bosnia-Herzegovina this past spring. Though … [Read more...]

The Perseverance by Raymond Antrobus, reviewed by Kendrick Loo

Kendrick Loo

Raymond Antrobus - The Perseverance

The Perseverance by Raymond Antrobus / Penned in the Margins / 2018 / 91 pages Raymond Antrobus' latest book, The Perseverance, opens with a sentence from American poet Robin Coste Lewis: "There is … [Read more...]

Notes and Dispatches: Essays by rob mclennan, reviewed by Julian Day

Julian Day

Notes and Dispatches: Essays by rob mclennan

Notes and Dispatches: Essays by rob mclennan / Insomniac Press / 2014 / 978-1554831265 / 318 pages rob mclennan has operated above/ground press from his home base of Ottawa for more than … [Read more...]

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R.I.P. Michael McClure 1932-2020

Empty Mirror

Established in 2000 and edited by Denise Enck, Empty Mirror is an online literary magazine that publishes new work each Friday.

Each week EM features several poems each by one or two poets; reviews; critical essays; visual art; and personal essays.

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