In Sarah Lilius’ GIRL (Dancing Girl Press, 2017), the girls carve out pieces of themselves in a world of harassers and violence, in a world of Trump.
How to Be Sad: Poetry by Risa Denenberg
How to Be Sad If you listen without language, you may hear my grandfather playing Brahms on the cello, grunting every now and then with the effort of an old man soon to die. He played for me that spring I lay sick with pneumonia. I was nine and lonely for my mothership, her planets…
An Ambiguous Utopia: Review of Leah Umansky’s “The Barbarous Century”
The advent of movements like Me Too, Black Lives Matter, the Never Again student efforts against gun violence, and others speak to inevitable and necessary backlashes against misogyny, inequality, corruption, and violence. These movements are reminders of the widening cracks between what’s long been tolerated (and in many cases accepted) and the reality of what…
Cards on the Table: Interview with Fatima Mbodj
Enikő Vághy interviews Fatima Mbodj about her practice of Tarot, how she identifies within the spiritual community, and what drew her to Tarot.
An Act of Survival: Interview with Emari DiGiorgio on Girl Torpedo
Jessica Walsh talks with Emari DiGiorgio about her forthcoming collection Girl Torpedo (Agape Editions, 2018) and the spaces we create for survival.
On Discovery and Obsession: A Review of Lillian-Yvonne Bertram’s Personal Science
The poems in Lillian-Yvonne Bertram’s book Personal Science (Tupelo Press, 2017) remind us of the intimacy of discovery.
Where Your Desire Was Left Out: A Review of Kristin Sanders’ “Cuntry”
Kristin Sanders’ “Cuntry”
(Trembling Pillow Press, 2017) uses the lens of country music to depict female sexuality and desire.
Interview with T.A. Noonan on “Fall”
Jessica Walsh talks with T.A. Noonan about their wrenching memoir Fall (Agape Editions, 2017); the function of narrative, memory, and identity in their work; and the book’s place in the larger cultural conversation surrounding #MeToo.
Blurring the Edge of the Tiniest Things: A Review of Ivy Alvarez’s “The Everyday English Dictionary”
In Ivy Alvarez’s The Everyday English Dictionary (Paekakariki Press, 2016), each stanza has a header word preceding it (like words in a dictionary), and the words are not everyday words: they are quite challenging. One might deduce that these words would probably need to be looked up in a dictionary. And yet, the stanzas oppose the…
Shared Mercy: A Review of Heidi Czerwiec’s “Conjoining”
Heidi Czerwiec’s haunting new book Conjoining (Sable Books, 2017) focuses on the myth of mothers as monsters.
Shared Suffering: A Review of Ariel Francisco’s Before Snowfall, After Rain
Ariel Francisco’s Before Snowfall, After Rain (Glass Poetry Press, 2016) leads readers through a breathing portrayal of New York City where we come face-to-face with our own sense of isolation.
Interview with Keith Jones on “Shorn Ellipses”
Will Flaherty talks with Keith Jones about the artistic, intellectual, and philosophical influences behind his chapbook Shorn Ellipses (Agape Editions, 2017).
