Book Reviews

OPA seeks to promote poets by featuring independent reviews on our website. To add your book to our review list, or to become a reviewer please contact our book review coordinator. See the list of books that need review here. See the book review guidelines here.

Still Life with Judas and Lightning by Dawn Diez Willis, reviewed by Kelly Eastlund

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Review by Kelly Eastlund Still Life with Judas and Lightning by Dawn Diez Willis Airlie Press ISBN 978-0-9821066-8-6 2013, 71 pp, $15 http://airliepress.org/still-life When the title of a poetry book feels like a poem in itself, you know you are in for an enriching read. Still Life with Judas and Lightning, Dawn Diez Willis’s first […]

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Iron String by Annie Lighthart, reviewed by A. Molotkov

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Review by A. Molotkov Iron String by Annie Lighthart, Airlie Press ISBN 978-0-9821066-7-9 2013, 77pp, $15 http://airliepress.org/iron-string   Now I understand that there are two melodies playing, one below the other, one easier to hear, the other lower, steady, perhaps more faithful for being less heard yet always present. Annie Lighthart’s exceptional collection contains some

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Willingly Would I Burn by Laura LeHew reviewed by Larina Warnock

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Review by Larina Warnock Willingly Would I Burn by Laura LeHew MoonPath Press ISBN 978-1-936657-08-7 2013, 57 pp., $10 http://www.lauralehew.com/ On a surface level, mathematics and poetry couldn’t be more different. Mathematics comes to conclusions using logical reasoning; poetry uses emotional reasoning. Mathematics adheres strictly to universal rules; poetry subverts rules believed to be universal.

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To That Mythic Country Called Closure by M, reviewed by Carolyn Martin

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Review by Carolyn Martin To That Mythic Country Called Closure By M A Concrete Wolf Poetry Chapbook Award Winner Concrete Wolf Poetry Chapbook Series ISBN# 978-0-9797137-7-4 2013, 38 pp., $10.00 http://concretewolf.com/publications/publications.htm First, it’s the in-your-face narrator who grabs you by the throat and won’t let go. Then it’s the imagery – visual and auditory –

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Tomorrow Too by Don Colburn, reviewed by Tim Pfau

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Review by Tim Pfau TOMORROW TOO: The Brenda Monologues By Don Colburn Finishing Line Press, Georgetown KY ISBN: 978-1-62229-395-7 Scheduled publication November 8, 2013. $14 (Pre-orders through finishinglinepress.com) doncolburn.net/tomorrow/ www.finishinglinepress.com Don Colburn is an award winning journalist and poet from Portland, Oregon. His newest book, TOMORROW TOO: The Brenda Monologues, is a deeply moving collection

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In the White Room by Elizabeth McLagan, reviewed by Erik Muller

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Review by Erik Muller  In the White Room By Elizabeth McLagan CW Books ISBN# 978-1-62549-014-8 2013, 92pp., $18 www.readcwbooks.com Elizabeth McLagan, a determined poet in an indeterminate world, sets up early the terms of her collection, In the White Room. The poet takes the preface page to offer definitions of “room,” some restraining, some liberating,

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‘Understory: Poems’ by Paulann Petersen, reviewed by John Sibley Williams

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Review by John Sibley Williams Understory: Poems   By Paulann Petersen Lost Horse Press  2013, 196 pp., $21.95 Paulann Petersen’s web site / Powell’s Books Before even opening Paulann Petersen’s latest collection, Understory, I was greeted with a haunting question: what is an “understory”? My mind raced with potential metaphors, each speaking directly to the core of all Petersen’s

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‘Motionless from the Iron Bridge: A Northwest Anthology of Bridge Poems’

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Review by Kelly Eastlund Motionless from the Iron Bridge: A Northwest Anthology of Bridge Poems  Edited by John Sibley Williams Bare bone books 2013, 38 pp., $7.50 Ordering information The first thing that struck me about this anthology, after Jonette Swanson’s haunting iron bridge image on the cover, was the word “motionless” in the title.

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‘Verge’ by Sara Burant, Comment by Erik Muller

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Sara Burant. Verge. Finishing Line Press. $14                                                                     Comment by Erik Muller  One virtue of chapbooks is their clarity of intent that can be sustained for a reading straight through. It is a rare larger volume that allows this. Sara Burant’s Verge assuredly develops its title as theme and variations. The verge is principally a border, an edge, the brink

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‘Photograph With Girls: Poems’ by Nancy Carol Moody reviewed by Toni Van Dusen

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Love At First Read                        by Toni Van Dusen            (first printed in CALYX, 2010 – reprinted with permission) PHOTOGRAPH WITH GIRLS: POEMS,  Nancy Carol Moody. Traprock Books, 66 pages, $15 paper. There are many reasons to buy and read Nancy Moody’s PHOTOGRAPH WITH GIRLS. The cover photo is a wonder—four girls (Moody’s mother among them) lying on a

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