Review of Wendy Donawa’s “Our Bodies’ Unanswered Questions”
By Angeline Schellenberg Our Bodies’ Unanswered Questions by Wendy Donawa Frontenac House Poetry (2021) “Is it bravado or just cheap grace, / hoping anything can be borne / if sung…
Review of Bren Simmers’ “If, When”
By Angeline Schellenberg If, When by Bren Simmers Gaspereau Press (2021) The first poem in Bren Simmers’ new collection ends “You’re not in an ambulance / speeding towards emergency. /…
Review of Skylar Kay’s “Transcribing Moonlight”
By Bret Crowle Transcribing Moonlight by Skylar Kay Frontenac House (2022) Skylar Kay’s debut collection Transcribing Moonlight is a delicate and transcendental glimpse into the world of identity. Authenticity leaches…
Review of Barry Dempster’s “Being Here”
By Beth Everest BEING HERE: the chemistry of startle by Barry Dempster Frontenac House (2022) From cover to cover, Barry Dempster’s latest book BEING HERE: the chemistry of startle, held…
Blurred Sunlight Shimmering on Wet Rocks: A Review of Laurence Hutchman’s “Swimming Toward the Sun”
by D.A. Lockhart Blurred Sunlight Shimmering on Wet Rocks A Review of Laurence Hutchman’s Swimming Toward the Sun. Collected Poems: 1968-2020. Guernica Editions (2020) I first heard Laurence Hutchman’s work…
L’affaire George Elliott Clarke by Stephen Morrissey
J’Accuse…! (Poem versus Silence) by George Elliott Clarke Exile Editions (2021) The title of George Elliott Clarke’s book length poem, J’Accuse…! (Poem versus Silence), is borrowed from Emile Zola’s 1898…
Review of John Wall Barger’s “Resurrection Fail”
by Bret Crowle Resurrection Fail by John Wall Barger Spuyten Duyvil (2021) Resurrection Fail begins with the disciplined and passionate detailing of personal experiences our author, John Wall Barger, but…
Review of Robert Priest’s “If I Didn’t Love the River”
by Patrick Connors If I Didn’t Love the River by Robert Priest ECW Press (2022) Robert Priest’s latest collection pushes boundaries. It cannot be defined as one school or “type”…
Review of Kim Fahner’s “Emptying the Ocean”
By Beth Everest Emptying the Ocean by Kim Fahner Frontenac House (2022) Because the title, itself, of Kim Fahner’s latest book suggests the impossible, I am instantly intrigued, and Emptying…
Review of Anvesh Jain’s “Pilgrim to No Country”
by Jaclyn Pahl Pilgrim to No Country by Anvesh Jain Frontenac House (2022) In his debut poetry collection, Pilgrim to No Country, Anvesh Jain promises to “pen the great ironies…