Category Archives: reviews

presence

“The Blood-red Stain on the Bone-white Cloth” Scott Wiggerman has achieved a noteworthy reputation as a widely-published poet, editor, and poetry workshop facilitator. Presence, his long-awaited second book-length collection of poems, certainly solidifies his standing as a contemporary poet of … Continue reading

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amblings

odd stone out after reading Leung Ping-Kwan’s amblings 1 a thousand years and this mirror pond takes emptiness in, empty mountain no one there in an ocean of dry where anyone can see all save one anywhere garden changes every … Continue reading

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remembering the body

every picture tells a story reading Alan Berecka’s Remembering the Body 1 no small thing, this pointing the way where story thinks itself at war with vision 2 where there is no vision the people perish intriguing, this telling stories … Continue reading

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elegy for trains

seeing in circles reading Ben Myers’ Elegy for Trains 1 what is not here is always here. there is no there there. it is hard to plant one green thing. out there is America, seeing in circles. the city is … Continue reading

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the origin of species and other poems

paradise is not a gift, it is an offering for Ernesto Cardenal, on reading The Origin of Species and Other Poems 1 he came, not from nowhere, saying revolution now revolution – now turn turn turn and, turning, walk the … Continue reading

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bluster

keep the show on the air reading Melissa Morphew’s Bluster 1 Decay so everyday natural it’s not necessary to stop and catch your breath, just hold on to the only matchstick pole not broken in this hurricane while the camera … Continue reading

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postcards to jack

One of the best things about Al DeGenova’s Postcards to Jack is that it is aware that a book is a performance (and certainly part of the credit for this goes to Matt Barton and Naked Mannekin Press). The chapbook … Continue reading

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a goldfinch instant

I usually read poetry books in pieces, at whim, leafing through the pages to scan whatever suits my mood of the moment. However, having glanced at the first few pages of “A Goldfinch Instant” by Paul Friedrich, I turned page … Continue reading

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child support

Robb Jackson’s latest book is a collection of occasional poems.  Each poem was written for his four children on their birthdays.  As the title of the collection suggests, these poems begin after the end of the marriage from which the … Continue reading

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horse and rider

Every poem is a performance, every performance an experiment. (Note to those who put a wall in poetry between page and stage: the world’s a stage, the page included.) The play on these pages explodes sometimes with music, bursts always … Continue reading

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