In her poem “Metamorphosis,” Sharon Perkins Ackerman confesses: “What I’ve never understood / is the nature of custody on earth, / the casings that hold us, / whether it’s true as they say, / the scant three feet between this world and the other.” Yet throughout her luminous collection, Sweeping the Porch (Pine Row Press, […]
“Sweeping the Porch” poetry collection by Sharon Perkins Ackerman
October 10, 2026 by Leave a Comment
“A Time of Witches” by Madeline Martin
October 4, 2026 by Leave a Comment
A Time of Witches (Hanover Square Press/HarperCollins, 2026) by USA Today bestselling author Madeline Martin is an intense, spellbinding dual-timeline novel about magic, love, and the power of sisterhood. The contemporary story is set in Savannah, while the older story is set in 16th-century England during the time of the Hopkins witch trials, also known […]
“Keeper of Lost Children” by Sadeqa Johnson
October 4, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Keeper of Lost Children (Simon & Schuster, 2026) by Sadeqa Johnson is an excellent historical novel of warmth and transcendence about three Black people who overcome great odds in the decades after WWII. At the heart of the novel, Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American military officer, is living in Occupied Germany in […]
“The Things of This World” poetry by Michael David Blanchard
September 20, 2026 by Leave a Comment
In his recent collection, The Things of This World (Kelsay Books 2026), poet and professor Michael David Blanchard tasks his poems with finding a reckoning, thereby inviting readers toward a parallel accounting. Anchored by this theme of moral inventory, the collection showcases Blanchard’s deep appreciation for the art of poetry and his talent for shaping […]
“Waking Up Alone,” poetry by Michael Hettich
September 15, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Tender. Poignant. Evocative. Unflinching. Waking Up Alone (Redhawk Publication, 2026) by multiple award-winning poet Michael Hettich is all that—and more. Heartbreaking and authentic, these are elegiac poems by a poet at the height of his talents writing about the loss of a much-beloved wife after 44 years of marriage. Dedicated to Colleen Ahern-Hettich, there are […]
“Free Hugs” poetry collection by Jefferson Carter
August 19, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Jefferson Carter’s grand collection of poetry, Free Hugs (Coyote Arts 2025) is a delight, displaying a perceptive talent for phrasing and filled with apt observations and acute insights. While Carter was an academic for a long while, these poems are not per se academic poems with heavy literary allusions but rather they are a kind […]