By examining the recurrence of his invented form, the duplex, throughout The Tradition, poets at any stage of their writing can learn how to put together a cohesive manuscript small presses want to publish.
Category: Books
Review: Disease of Kings by Anders Carlson-Wee
With Disease of Kings (W.W. Norton, 2023), Anders Carlson-Wee has truly come into his own as a storyteller, detailing the lives of a speaker based on himself and his friend North in poignant and amusing detail.
Review: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
The Reformatory, Tananarive Due’s 2023 novel, integrates cinematic structure to craft an engaging and commercially ready story, invokes deep emotions, and presents essential beats vital for captivating storytelling.
Movie Monday: The Prestige
While I set out to write an essay on the movie version of The Prestige, I ended up reading the novel, too, and comparing the script to the book. Note that I did use the screenplay that was published in book form, not the shooting script PDF like I usually do for my MFA annotations.… Continue reading Movie Monday: The Prestige
The Dune Post
Dune: Part Two is now one of my favorite movies ever, but this post is about a lot more than that.
Review: When I Grow Up… by Chen Chen
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities is an important book for its passion and politics, but just as much so for its playfulness and positivity. With poems like these, poets will surely find themselves inspired to write and be their fullest selves.
Review: Monsters I Have Been by Kenji C. Liu
Kenji C. Liu’s Monsters I Have Been is a wild ride through his denunciation of toxic masculinity and praise of gender fluidity. The method he uses to express these, however, is almost laughable in its strangeness; while shockingly original, it lacks a necessary accessibility in communicating its message(s) to readers.
Review: Looking for the Gulf Motel by Richard Blanco
This book is equal parts about culture, family, and self-discovery, and likely every reader can relate to the struggle with those things. Not every poet can bridge the gap between their own experiences and others, but Blanco does it expertly by incorporating food, speech, music, and the smallest physical details in his poems.
Review: Wade in the Water by Tracy K. Smith
Although the intent of individual poems in this ambitious collection is not always clear, Smith’s found poetry drives home the reality of harms done to the people of this country, especially to black people enslaved by white people.
Deaf & Blind: A Book Review
Paul Hostovsky’s fifteenth collection — and fifth from Main Street Rag — Deaf & Blind, is a rare find. With humor and humility, the Massachusetts author leads hearing and sighted readers through his life thus far as an American Sign Language interpreter and student, as well as the relative and friend of many Deaf and DeafBlind people, in the form of poems and stories.
Caitlin M.S. Buxbaum 