Curiosity skilled the poet. Seemingly unwilling to rein in her interests, Jen Town’s sense of wonder and delight with what catches her attention is infectious. Her work has lit up the pages of Epoch, Crab Orchard Review, Third Coast,... Read More

Inspiration. Elusive stuff. Find it where you can—ideally, not from a bottle. Robert Eastwood found it Dante’s Purgatorio, and went so far as to use the Italian master’s three-line stanzas. Consider us impressed. Twice a Pushcart... Read More

Good poets seem to recognize that what makes them good is what annoys them most about themselves. Damn the constant chatter—enough already!—but yes, admittedly, there’s some workable stuff in there. A masterful sifter, Tony... Read More

A troubled young boy is sent to his grandmother’s seaside cottage for a summer of reflection in Heather T. Smith’s Ebb & Flow, an emotionally charged YA verse novel that explores the corrosive nature of grief and regret alongside... Read More

Joe’s big brother Ed left one day in their Aunt Karen’s car, and he never came home. He ended up in Texas, where he panicked over being pulled over without the car’s registration, tried to drive away, and was convicted of killing... Read More

There is a poetic expression here for anyone who has ever fallen in love—who has pined for someone, who has loved without being loved back, who has been cheated on, or who has felt confused in love. R. R. Pravin’s poetry collection... Read More

Nine previous books of poetry and a memoir of gender transition does not a life make, but it’s nothing to sneeze at. Dr. Joy Ladin, take that National Endowment of the Arts fellowship and Fulbright Scholarship to the rocker on the back... Read More

July Westhale’s poetry seems accompanied with a tuning fork’s pitch, a heightened, pressing, weaponized immediacy. Whatever she faced to earn that ability would have killed a lesser mortal, we can be sure. A creative writing,... Read More