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. […]
“Naked Thoughts” by Marina Brown
October 12, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Well-named and powerful, Naked Thoughts (Gilberte Publishing, 2025) by multi-award-winning writer Marina Brown contains 58 poems that invite readers into beauty and soul-searching along with her poetic syntax. These poems will haunt you long after the final line as Brown’s artistry conjures images both unforgettable and of the deepest beauty. In what is perhaps her […]
“The Tears of Things” by Catherine Hamrick
October 9, 2025 by Leave a Comment
The Tears of Things (Madville Publishing 2025) by Catherine Hamrick is an exquisite, sensory-rich and sensitive body of poems that vividly capture with what it means to love, lose, fall, get up, and do it all again. Hamrick’s language is consistently vibrant, and often unique—for example, “slick-tripped” in a poem about winter ice entitled “Fat […]
Read of the Month: “Resurrected Body” by Elizabeth C. Garcia
August 6, 2025 by Leave a Comment
The opening poem, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” sets the soul-baring tone for Elizabeth C. Garcia’s stunning collection, Resurrected Body (Cider Press Review 2024). No wonder this book won Cider Press Review’s 2023 Editor’s Prize! The phrasing of Garcia’s first poem will cause most mothers to recall those scary, cringeworthy moments in the delivery […]
Donna Meredith interviews Elizabeth C. Garcia, author of “Resurrected Body”
August 5, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Introduction: So, how long have I known Elizabeth Cranford Garcia? Many years. Don’t ask how many. Let’s just say I stopped expecting the face of the person I was then to look back at me in the mirror. Or to use Liz’s metaphor, perhaps at some point I have been resurrected into a stranger’s body. […]