All is the Telling (Diode Editions, 4/5/25) is a memoir in poems. That’s what made me want to read and review it. But when I opened the book and began to read I understood why so many memoir instructors and instructions suggest that all writers should read poetry—for the language. The language throughout this book […]
Read of the Month: “Art Work: On the Creative Life “by Sally Mann
April 1, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Almost without exception, seeing a book with the subtitle “On the Creative Life” I’d take a pass. But who can resist a book like Sally Mann’s Art Work Art Work: On the Creative Life (New York: Abrams Press, 2025), that begins with “This is a book about how to get shit done” ? Sally Mann, […]
“What Were You Thinking: Essays 2006–2024” by Hank Lazer
March 3, 2026 by Leave a Comment
The deeply philosophical essays in What You Were Thinking: Essays 2006-2024 (Lavender Ink, 2025) by renowned poet Hank Lazer will appeal to poetry lovers and scholars. In addition to the essays, Lazer includes examples of his “shape” poems and a number of interviews that further illuminate his artistic and philosophical commitments. In April 2015, Lazer […]
“1000 Pieces of Time” by Michael Minassian
February 10, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Literate, imaginative, erudite, precise, and lovely—the poems by Michael Minassian in 1000 Pieces of Time (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions 2025) are all that and more. Minassian blends the here and the gone, the realistic and the fanciful, the dreamy and the sharp, in a collection at once creative and impeccably well crafted. Divided into three distinctive parts, […]
“A Sharper Silence” by Michael Hettich
January 8, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Etudes. Studies. In music, these were thought to be mere technical exercises to develop a student’s skill with an instrument. Then Frédéric Chopin came along, so the story goes, and elevated the étude to the realm of highest artistry. I imagine Michael Hettich similarly. He sits down at his writing desk to do these studies, […]
“A Legacy of Birds” by Sharon Perkins Ackerman
November 10, 2025 by 1 Comment
Sharon Perkins Ackerman’s most recent poetry collection— A Legacy of Birds (Kelsey Books 2025) — is comprehensive and lyrical, a wonderful representation of Appalachian childhood and growing pains. The poems each describe distinct memories, some hazy from humid days long gone, some sharp and clear as yesterday as Ackerman contemplates the past and the present. […]