REVIEWS
Review: THIS BORING APOCALYPSE by Brandi Wells
Brandi Wells 124 Pages Civil Coping Mechanisms Review by JOE LUCIDO “[Domesticity] is a thing that has not existed for decades. Domesticity is dangerous, like the science or religion. Domesticity has long been eradicated,” the narrator of This Boring Apocalypse, Wells’ third book, says, after a cat she forms of puss to keep her company crosses the street to live in another house…
Review: PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT LIFE by Atticus Lish
Preparation for the Next Life Atticus Lish 2014 Tyrant Books 418 pages Review by ELIZABETH MIKESCH This is what we should be reading right now. Most writers aren’t generous enough to generate books this clean or of heft. Books about what it means to be an American...
Review: IN PRAISE OF USEFULNESS by Angela Patten
In Praise of Usefulness Angela Patten 2014 Wind Ridge Books 73 pages Review by THEODORA ZIOLKOWSKI In Praise of Usefulness, Angela Patten’s third collection of poetry, meditates on the boundaries between childhood and adulthood and Ireland and America. The recurring...
Review: DARKMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN by Jay Ponteri
Darkmouth Strikes Again Jay Ponteri 2014 Future Tense Books 32 pages Review by MATT POSKY On the page Jay Ponteri comes across as a deeply unhappy man with common but ferocious demons that he needs to have exorcised immediately. His debut work, Wedlocked: A Memoir,...
Review: IF THE TABLOIDS ARE TRUE WHAT ARE YOU? by Matthea Harvey
If the Tabloids Are True What Are You? Matthea Harvey 2014 Graywolf Press 147 pages Review by BETHANY STARTIN “When I say we I mean/me in a wide wide dress,” Matthea Harvey writes in “On Intimacy,” her words illustrated by a silhouette of a woman clothed in a...
Review: I DON’T KNOW DO YOU by Roberto Montes
I Don't Know Do You Roberto Montes 2014 Ampersand Books 102 pages Review by CHRIS EMSLIE What Montes achieves in his debut collection of poems is the reverse of objectification. Rather than reducing the body of the beloved to a thing, a mere object of desire, Montes...
Review: JANUARY MACHINE by Rob Schlegel
January Machine Rob Schlegel 2014 Four Way Books 64 pages Review by LAURA KOCHMAN Rob Schlegel’s second book, January Machine, takes the form of a book-length poem, using the page as a unit of measure. Along with form, January Machine centers on its speaker, the...
Review: WILL OLDHAM ON BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY by Alan Licht
Will Oldham on Bonnie "Prince" Billy Ed. Alan Licht 2012 W. W. Norton & Company 400 pages Review by ANDREW WUSLER In the recently released book length interview, Will Oldham on Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Oldham takes a break from talking about touring to discuss a...
Review: FROM OLD NOTEBOOKS by Evan Lavender-Smith
From Old Notebooks Evan Lavender-Smith 2010 BlazeVOX Books 178 pages Review by STEPHEN THOMAS Evan Lavender-Smith’s From Old Notebooks is a conceptual book that would like to think it’s hiding a living, breathing, narrative heart; and it basically is, I...
Review (from the Women Who Killed It series): O HOLY INSURGENCY by Mary Biddinger
Our Review Editor Josh English reviews his four favorite books of poetry published this year. These are the Women Who Killed It in 2013.