books

Poetry, Biography, and the Unknowable

Hollis Robbins Los Angeles Review of Books
These books offer two approaches to the life and work of Wheatley, who is a cornerstone figure of the U.S. and African American literary traditions.

poetry

Chinese Exclusion Act

Gerald Sloan
Arkansas poet Gerald Sloan reminds us that the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was no “act” but often lost to history and found again.

poetry

Poisoned Water

Philip C. Kolin
Mississippi poet Philip C. Kolin reminds us of the next imminent global disaster—bad water—and in some places it’s already here.

poetry

Clemency

Peter Neil Carroll Cultural Daily
There’s more than a little irony in Peter Carroll’s poem about a woman who has been imprisoned for over 20 years being “free to start over.”

poetry

F Is for Fear

Heidi Seaborn Rattle
Poet Heidi Seaborn (a distinctive surname) envisions a death at sea by strangulation, though it didn’t quite happen that way.

poetry

History Repeats Itself

W. D. Ehrhart
A poet sensitive to injustice, W.D. Ehrhart projects a “broken-hearted world without end.”

poetry

It’s Different Now

Christopher Clauss Radical Teacher
“I just want to teach science,” says New Hampshire poet Christopher Clauss, but his responsibilities also range from the absurd to the dangerous.

poetry

Our Constitution

Beau Beausoleil Intermitten Press
Three years after the murder of George Floyd on March 25 2020, San Francisco poet Beau Beausoleil offers a limited portfolio of 20 poems as homage and legacy.

poetry

The Popular Vote

Star Black Popular Vote
What really do we mean by the “popular vote”? The poet Star Black sees the consequences of misunderstanding.
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