Guests

I’m going to use this page to link to guest poets and writers. Click on the name to go to that post. You can also use the “search” feature.

Blog

Terri Cohlene’s A CONSPIRACY OF BLACKBIRDSJuly 13, 2026 - 11:41 pm
A CONSPIRACY OF BLACKBIRDS, Terri Cohlene, MoonPath Press 2026. I want to describe Terri Cohlene’s long overdue debut poetry collection, A Conspiracy of Blackbirds, as a hodge-podge, but only if you understand hodge-podge as that strange little store crammed with ancient washing machines, pitchforks, maybe a statue of Cupid or a wrought iron hen with […]
Where you’ll find me…July 2, 2026 - 12:43 am
I’m overdue for a catch-up post. Last year, as you know, was a tough one for me. (I saw my husband twice so far this week, and he is thriving, acting as though living away from home is his new normal, happy to see me, sending me away with a list of things to procure […]
JuneteenthJune 20, 2026 - 7:01 pm
I am at the Stafford Challenge Conference at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and having a wonderful time. Naomi Shihab Nye is here, and she is one of my favorite all-time poets, so that’s a joy. I’m also enjoying getting to know Kim Stafford and looking forward to his workshop this morning. If […]
Lana Hechtman Ayers, STILL LIFE WITH SORROW & JOYJune 13, 2026 - 5:35 pm
Still Life with Sorrow & Joy, Lana Hechtman Ayers, The Poetry Box, 2026 What a lucky thing to have poet-friends. I had two big deadlines at the end of May (didn’t quite make them, but almost); I’m teaching another Creative Retirement Institute Class (on William Stafford, and it’s going beautifully); and I seem to have forgotten […]
Edward Harkness, CREEK WATER: NEW & SELECTED POEMSApril 29, 2026 - 6:32 pm
CREEK WATER: NEW & SELECTED POEMS, Edward Harkness, Empty Bowl, 2025. National Poetry Month is slipping away, but if I lower the bar a bit, I think I can get in two more books for you. And it was such a pleasure to spend time this morning with northwest poet Ed Harkness’s Creek Water. In […]
Two Books by Susan LandgrafApril 28, 2026 - 9:24 pm
JOURNEY OF TREES, Susan Landgraf, The Poetry Box Publishing, 2024. Finalist for the 2023 Poetry Box Chapbook Prize. THE INSPIRED POET: WRITING EXERCISES TO SPARK NEW WORK, Susan Landgraf, Two Sylvias Press, 2019. In the words of Jane Wong, the poems in Journey of Trees are “fed by the kindling of myth and lyrical curiosity.” […]
BIRDBRAINS: A LYRICAL GUIDE TO WASHINGTON STATE BIRDSApril 26, 2026 - 4:04 pm
BIRDBRAINS: A LYRICAL GUIDE TO WASHINGTON STATE BIRDS, ed. Susan Rich. Raven Chronicles Press, 2025. I have two poems in this lovely book, lovingly curated by Susan Rich, assisted by bird note author Stephanie Delaney and artist Hiroko Seki. The poems are narrative and lyrical, longish and very short. The poets include Martha Silano, Jayne […]
Caitlin Dwyer, IN THE SALTApril 24, 2026 - 7:13 pm
IN THE SALT, Caitlin Dwyer, MoonPath Press, 2026. Winner of the 2025 Sally Albiso Award How much more praise can I lavish on this quirky, brilliant collection of poems? The book is woven of two main strands: the female characters of Homer’s Odyssey, and the story of the birth and imperiled early life of Dwyer’s […]
Maya C. Popa, WOUND IS THE ORIGIN OF WONDERApril 21, 2026 - 2:37 pm
WOUND IS THE ORIGIN OF WONDER, Maya C. Popa, Norton, 2023. In the opening poem in this collection, “Dear Life,” Popa writes, “I can’t undo all I have done to myself / what I have let an appetite for love to do me.” These lines set the tone for a book that again and again […]
Pádraig Ó Tuama, KITCHEN HYMNSApril 18, 2026 - 6:24 pm
KITCHEN HYMNS, Pádraig Ó Tuama, Copper Canyon Press, 2024. I am going to cheat and just give you a few notes, then send you to other, smarter reviewers. You might begin with the first paragraph from Mary Grace Mangano’s review at Jesuit Media Lab, which elegantly makes Ó Tuama kin with Flannery O’Connor. Both raised […]