Category Archive

Shop Talk by Tanner Paul Tanner (October 15, 2019) Available at Amazon Paul Tanner’s book, Shop Talk, comes at you directly. It’s safe to assume that the writer of these poems either works in a shop or has worked in a shop. From here on in I’m going to refer to the writer as Tanner. Having dealt with people directly, …

Osmosis by Debarshi Mitra Hawakal Publishers (June 5, 2020) Available at Amazon In the introduction of Debarshi Mitra’s poetry collection, Osmosis, the author tells us that this book represents his attempt to crystallize the “moment,” and that this impulse stems directly from his interest in Zen Buddhism and physics. Being interested in how science and spirituality connect and intersect, I …

Words for Things Left Unsaid by Ethan Goffman Kelsay Books (March 7, 2020) Available at Amazon What stands out almost immediately about Ethan Goffman’s poetry collection Words for Things Left Unsaid, is that his poems often read like speculative fiction, asking what-if questions about reality, science, and history. In one of the opening poems, “Taxonomy of History,” Goffman writes: There …

Escape from Planet Crouton by Wayne F. Burke LUCHADOR Press (December 24, 2019) Available at Amazon Since we run in some of the same writing circles, I’ve known and loved Wayne F. Burke’s poetry for several years now. To my ears, Burke’s poems tell very American stories. They read like Merle Haggard and John Prine songs, briefly told and with …

Jumpers from the Belfry Tower by Ryan Quinn Flanagan Pski’s Porch (December 19, 2019) Available at Amazon Delighted to have just read Ryan Quinn Flanagan’s (RQF’s) Jumpers from the Belfry Tower. And having previously reviewed RQF’s Return to Vegas Poems for Mad Swirl, I feel like I’m becoming a scholar of RQF’s work. Watch out RQF, next I’m writing your …