Maxine Kumin recommends Ultra-Talk, essays by David Kirby: “Kirby’s essays leapfrog from remembering Johnny Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ while touring Sicily to a piece called ‘Give Me Life Coarse and Rank,’ a disquisition on dithyrambs and more in Whitman. My favorite essay, ‘Shrouded in a Fiery Mist,’ examines the eroticism of Saint Teresa of Avila…
Philip Levine recommends Space Walk, poems by Tom Sleigh: “Sleigh’s reviewers use words such as ‘adept,’ ‘elegant,’ and ‘classical.’ Reading his new book, I find all those terms beside the point, even though not one is inaccurate. I am struck by the human dramas that are enacted in these poems, the deep encounters that often…
James Alan McPherson recommends The Interloper, a novel by Antoine Wilson: "The Interloper is an admirable exploration of the complex emotional bond that develops between an imprisoned man and another male, bent on vengeance, who employs the affectations of a female. The exploration of this developing bond will enlighten the novel’s readers. Antoine Wilson, a…
Gerald Stern recommends My Body, new and selected poems by Joan Larkin: "Over the decades of writing, Joan Larkin has proved her mastery, whether the poem is mythic, elegiac, or biographical. Her honesty is overwhelming, but it is coupled with poetic cunning, gorgeous language, and a rhythm and tone so precise and appropriate that it…
Maxine Kumin recommends That or Which, and Why: A Usage Guide for Thoughtful Writers and Editors, by Evan Jenkins: “A pragmatic and wonderfully witty collection of advice on slippery usage issues. Even if you think you know it all, read it for entertainment.” (Routledge)
Gerald Stern recommends Velocity, poems by Nancy Krygowski: “These are courageous poems. The music, the language, which I love, is based on a terrific sense of things, and I don’t know if it is the music or the knowledge which I most admire. This is a wide-eyed, assertive, wild, well-read, street-smart, edgy, loving, suffering, heaven-crazed…
David St. John recommends Intaglio, poems by Ariana-Sophia M. Kartsonis: “I only discovered this prize-winning collection earlier this year, and it stunned me with its rich and sensual language and complex narrative architectures. Without question one of the very finest debut volumes of recent years.” (Kent State)
Robert Boswell recommends Rare High Meadow of Which I Might Dream, poems by Connie Voisine: “Connie Voisine’s second book of poetry is a powerfully moving exploration of desire and the consequences of desire. The language has the clarity and precision of genius. A brilliant book.” (Chicago)
Ron Carlson recommends A Proper Knowledge, a novel by Michelle Latiolais: “Here is a deep look at a doctor who works with autistic children, so frustrated with science and the tiny progress he’s making with the young people with whom he works, that he comes to life himself. Latiolais writes sharply and beautifully about the…
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