Editor's Shelf

History of Hurricanes by Teresa Cader

  Joyce Peseroff recommends History of Hurricanes, poems by Teresa Cader:  "Cader’s third book examines the mind, heart and soul of contemporary life through domestic speculations, historical wonder, and a response to the natural world that’s both lyrical and visceral. Her sharp observations on the precariousness of what we possess—knowledge, love, and joy—enrich the reader’s…

Adam Chooses by Michael Spence

Madeline DeFrees recommends Adam Chooses, poems by Michael Spence: “These spare, understated poems have the elegant design and the formal ease we’ve come to expect of Michael Spence’s work. The stance is reminiscent of James Wright’s Green Wall poems in their escape from ‘that vacant Paradise’ to the celebration of the here and now.” (Rose…

All-American Girl by Robin Becker

Lloyd Schwartz recommends All-American Girl, poems by Robin Becker: “Unsparing and self-knowing, Robin Becker uses irony (as in her double- and triple-edged title) as if it were a form of directness. Painful, often devastating poems contend with crushing loss, the convolutions of sexuality and family politics, the struggle to accept the self. Yet they also…

Astoria by Malena Mörling

Philip Levine recommends Astoria, poems by Malena Mörling: “In a poem by Malena Mörling the reader is taken on trips never bargained for: time may be compressed, action go in reverse; in the blink of a line you can move from Grand Central Station to a design on wallpaper, and yet when you finish the…