The notion of seeing—that is, foretelling, seeing beyond—resounds in the collection, beginning with the title, “Oracle Smoke Machine.” Poet and artist assume prophetic personae of…
The self-evident sensuous beauty of Waldman’s poetic word can’t be given by criticism, for, in taking it as my object, I have separated the meaning…
Humming beneath the brutal, often grotesque landscape of the book is a quiet, profound philosophical inquiry. Through sections separated by definitions of spare, Lewis asks:…
In Down Low and Lowdown the blues manifests in multiple ways: as lament, as prelude to creativity, taking stock of one’s surroundings, as mourning, as…
Zebrun’s characters, far from the pomp and ceremony of the Vatican, are the Italian and Irish working men and women of New York. In the…
“Lately I’ve been practicing to stay.” says the speaker in the prologue poem, “What the Sea Told Me.” And from there, as if on a…
Though not esoteric, the poems are certainly not easy either. They are by turns abstract and concrete, tender and brutal, glib and sincere. They don’t…
Pui Ying Wong’s book of poems, Fanling in October, is both restrained and deeply surprising. She is a traveler, not just across borders, but across…
Unfiltered and full of dark humor, desire, and sexual energy, Southwick’s debut poetry collection, Orchid Alpha, unpacks the id of the modern day woman. The…
Every Single Bird Rising is this poet’s second language. Xiaoly Li’s debut collection is both weightless and heavy, depending on the line your eyes end…