So Much Love of Death: A Crown of Violets by Renée Vivien
Translation always sacrifices something, and Pious, in her translations, has been consistent about the choice to cleave to some formal principles and lean away from others.
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Everyfolks: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
At the end of the day, Celestial, Roy, and Andre are three flawed human beings trying to navigate their way through life and love and everything in between, just like many of us.
An Arduous Reality: Testify by Simone John
Simone John’s first full-length collection of poems, Testify, is a remarkable exercise in documentary poetics.
The Meaning of Truth: A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise by Sandra Allen
The way the book is organized reflects Allen’s experience: the ability to meet a book with skepticism and find much to be admired.
Map-Making: Alex Dimitrov’s Together and By Ourselves
At one point, I write in my margin: There is no X marks the spot for treasure here. The map is the treasure. Which is another way of saying: this book is the bounty; these poems are the gold.
A Desi Win: Trust No Aunty by Maria Qamar
What started off as a coping mechanism to deal with the widening generational gap within immigrant families, Qamar has shaped into a new philosophy for cultural in-betweeners.
The Violence of Lost Time: Planetary Noise: Selected Poetry of Erin Mouré
Translating, in its widest meaning, is an attempt to accomplish what having a passport gives us permission to undertake.
Less Brilliant but More Profound: Denis Johnson’s The Largesse of the Sea Maiden
[I]n Johnson’s whole protean oeuvre, more than any pair of books, Jesus’ Son and The Largesse of the Sea Maiden are like binary stars, locked in orbit, distinct but inseparable, each throwing its light upon the other.
The Way That Poetry Works: Holdfast by Christian Anton Gerard
In his searing, soulful second collection, Gerard uses the language that is poetry to invite the reader in to the experience of his darkest and brightest moments.
At the Mercy of the Mob: Theodore Wheeler’s Kings of Broken Things
[J]ust as bad nonfiction can be written to tell a lie, good fiction can be written to tell the truth.
Both Presence and Absence: Safia Elhillo’s The January Children
The book, in the end, is shot through with a faith in human communion despite immense communal and individual loss.
On Joy: Three Poetry Anthologies
With impermanence and “praise for the devil” all around, it’s a gift to rediscover joy, no matter how fleeting.