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

New Issue of Calyx JournalMay 18, 2022 - 4:16 am
CALYX Journal, Vol. 33:1 Cover art “Flamingo” by Leah Kosh Featuring new work by thandiwe D. Watts-Jones, Kamal E. Kimball, Bethany Reid, Meredith Starr, and more Order your copy or subscribe and save! CALYX Journal Vol. 33:1 has arrived and is overflowing with beautiful and empowering new poetry, prose, reviews, and full-color art from a wide […]
May Swenson (1913-1989)May 11, 2022 - 5:26 am
“The poem is an eyehole to a kind of truth or beauty that is finally unnameable.” –May Swenson Last week I visited Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and, among other pleasurable tasks, I spent two mornings in the Special Collections section of the Olin Library, pawing through the May Swenson archives. These are an […]
Tracy K. Smith, Wade in the WaterApril 30, 2022 - 5:46 pm
WADE IN THE WATER, Tracy K. Smith. Graywolf Press, 250 Third Avenue North, Suite 600, Minneapolis, MN 55401, 2019, 96 pages, $16 paper, www.graywolfpress.org. For my last poet in #nationalpoetrymonth, this book is too perfect. Here’s Graywolf Press’s description: In Wade in the Water, Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy K. Smith boldly ties America’s contemporary moment both […]
Brenda Miller, The Daughters of Elderly WomenApril 29, 2022 - 7:45 pm
THE DAUGHTERS OF ELDERLY WOMEN, Brenda Miller. Floating Bridge Press, 909 NE 43rd St, $205, Seattle WA 98105, 2020, 41 pages, $10, paper, www.floatingbridgepress.org. Not only are these poems I wish I had written, but they are poems I should have written. It’s a meditative, almost spiritual collection, but busy, too—like a care-taking daughter—with minutiae. […]
Arthur Sze, Sight LinesApril 28, 2022 - 10:10 pm
SIGHT LINES, Arthur Sze. Copper Canyon Press, PO Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368, 2019, 70 pages, $16 paper, www.coppercanyonpress.org. Today I started a couple different poetry books and for some reason—I don’t blame the poets—couldn’t get any traction. Then I stumbled across this one, sat down, and read it all the way through. Arthur […]
Laura Read, Instructions for My Mother’s FuneralApril 27, 2022 - 11:17 pm
INSTRUCTIONS FOR MY MOTHER’S FUNERAL, Laura Read. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh Pa 15260, 2012, 104 pages, $17 paper, https://upittpress.org. The intimacy of this book of poems is searing. A father dies, a mother remarries. A child is uprooted. (And so much more.) Then life goes on. A life in three parts. Swoon-worthy writing here, […]
Ann Spiers, Back CutApril 26, 2022 - 3:21 pm
BACK CUT, Ann Spiers. Black Heron Press, PO Box 614, Anacortes, WA 98221, 2021, 88 pages, $16 paper, www.blackheronpress.com. I had dropped by Edmonds Bookshop to quickly pick up Sharon Hashimoto’s book of poems, when this slim volume (too) caught my eye. The cover is black, but has darker blocks set into the background. The […]
Sharon Hashimoto, More AmericanApril 25, 2022 - 8:36 pm
MORE AMERICAN, Sharon Hashimoto. Off the Grid Press, Grid Books, Boston, MA, 2021, 80 pages, $16 paper, grid-books.org. I knew Sharon Hashimoto in graduate school, and have long been an admirer. Her first book of poetry, The Crane Wife, was a co-winner of the 2003 Nicholas Roerich Prize, originally published by Story Line Press and […]
Paul E. Nelson, American SentencesApril 24, 2022 - 7:42 pm
AMERICAN SENTENCES: ONE POEM, EVERY DAY, TWENTY YEARS, Paul E. Nelson. Apprentice House, Loyola University Maryland, 4501 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21210, 120 pages, $11.99 paper, www.ApprenticeHouse.com. Honest-to-goodness, there’s nothing I can add that will make this better. (That is my 17 syllables today.) To learn more about the American Sentence, visit Paul’s homepage […]
Solmaz Sharif: CustomsApril 23, 2022 - 6:00 pm
CUSTOMS: POEMS, Solmaz Sharif. Graywolf Press, 250 Third Avenue, Suite 600, Minneapolis, MN 55401, 94 pages, $16 paper, www.graywolfpress.org. This morning I read Customs, the brand new book of poems by Solmaz Sharif, and I read the interview in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers, and the review in my copy of the March […]