Vessel Poems by Parneshia Jones Milkweed Editions, 2015 $16.00 the keeper of ash and memory, curtsies and curiosity, Easter poems, skinned knees, polyester, silk, and calamity – “Girl” Parneshia Jones’s debut poetry collection begins with a girl who grows before our eyes into a woman who serves as a singular vessel for family, racial, and …
All night in the new country by Miriam Bird Greenberg Sixteen Rivers Press, 2013 $10.00 What do we become when stripped to our barest selves? By delivering us into an apocalypse laden with memory of the world that came before, Miriam Bird Greenberg’s All night in the new country goes a long way toward answering …
proxy Poems by R. Erica Doyle Belladonna, 2013 $15.00 For a while now, we’ve been a society fascinated by the use of science as a lens to scrutinize human emotion. The practice dates as far back as The Twilight Zone, but more recently has been taken up by writers like Margaret Atwood and Brenda Shaughnessy. …
I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast Poems by Melissa Studdard Saint Julian Press, 2014 $12.00 There is a universe inside each instant—if ever a writer has taken that statement to heart, it’s Melissa Studdard. Her fourth book, I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast, turns a keen eye on life’s smallest moments to pay homage to …
My Friend Ken Harvey Poems by Barrett Warner Publishing Genius Press, 2014 $7.00 Nostalgia and sentiment were dirty words in poetry until Barret Warner’s My Friend Ken Harvey came on the scene. Here we have a chapbook that shows us the many forms of love, how relationships can be measured as “not enough war or …
That Our Eyes Be Rigged Poems by Kristi Maxwell Saturnalia Books, 2014 $15.00 I always want to say falsetto to sing it true in falsetto. – “My Cost” Following its desire to play with and harness the strange power of words, Kristi Maxwell’s That Our Eyes Be Rigged seems to be a meditation on the …
Best Bones Poems by Sarah Rose Nordgren University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014 $15.95 Into the Woods might not have taken home an Oscar, but its recent Disney reboot proves we’re still a culture that values fairy tales. One of my favorite moments from that score comes from the song “Stay With Me,” when the Witch …
You Could Learn a Lot Poems by RJ Gibson Seven Kitchens Press, 2014 $9.00 In 2006, Alice Smith crooned, “Gimme some new religion, something that I can feel.” Eight years later, RJ Gibson has answered that call. Through a blend of nature, religion, and pop culture, Gibson’s new chapbook You Could Learn a Lot depicts …