Category Archives: reviews

brotherkeeper and chasing the saints

Posted on July 26, 2008 by readingroom

Poetry and spirituality have long walked the same intellectual pathways, closely bonded cousins, if not quite fraternal twins. The Bible itself contains some of the world’s oldest, best- known poetry. Throughout the ages, great mystics like John of the Cross … Continue reading →

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painting the borrowed house

Posted on July 21, 2008 by readingroom

In Painting the Borrowed House, Kate Rogers celebrates place without standing still. We move with her poems from becoming lao wei (foreigner) to being at home in “thinking about where / I’ve been and where I’m going next” (60) –even … Continue reading →

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not exactly job

Posted on July 21, 2008 by readingroom

Nathan Brown’s Not Exactly Job stands in a long tradition of Biblical commentary that is at once conversation and poetry — poetry in conversation with poetry. Don’t be misled by my calling it “commentary.” It is not academic — and … Continue reading →

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miss moon’s class

Posted on July 21, 2008 by readingroom

The three sections of viki holmes’s miss moon’s class — writing, arithmetic, and reading — each begin with an epigraph that serves as a signpost of sorts for a segment of the journey. The first is taken from the Dresden … Continue reading →

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house of bone

Posted on July 20, 2008 by readingroom

“The house we bought clings to the edge / of the irrigation ditch,” writes Sheila Black in “Oasis,” the first poem in House of Bone. It’s an apt beginning to this collection, for the canal that feeds the garden is … Continue reading →

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Welcome

Posted on July 15, 2008 by readingroom

Among the greatest joys for readers and writers is sharing what we’re reading and writing. We pass on new discoveries to friends, and we keep lists (written or unwritten) of the books our friends (and interesting strangers) mention. Books rise … Continue reading →

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