Myrna Stone’s depth of historical knowledge and talent for storytelling should not in any way suggest that her technical skills don’t reach the paygrade of poetry’s big leagues, far from it. Wherefore art thou wherewithal to learn,... Read More

The tickling of ivories, or birdsong, how one note relates to the next and amounts to something more—that’s the initial impression of Adam Houle’s lines, as they go about their work describing outdoor trades, chores, and pursuits.... Read More

No, we won’t find much comfort here, or words pretty for pretty’s sake. Sheila McMullin scores the flesh of her observations and sears them with ponderous, mostly unanswerable questions about pain and anger, consequences, finality.... Read More

Her lines storm out of the gate and maintain a thrilling, cogent sense of direction, as if Rebecca Aronson has only recently been given permission to communicate and she is eager to share. A resident of New Mexico, where she teaches... Read More

The gentle nudge to pause, listen, look for deeper meaning or humor—especially at the worst of times—is ever present in Sue Scalf’s poetry. But her blood runs plenty hot, and that opposition between the thoughtful and the... Read More

Yes, poetry is pure feeling, the source of all beauty, a portal to hidden truths. Poetry is also drop-dead funny, and David Lee, side-splitter extraordinaire, is, in this sense, a serial killer. Utah’s first Poet Laureate in 1997, PhD,... Read More

The universe’s most elusive truths and mysteries are primarily pursued by scientists—a dogged contingent of highly educated, inquisitive minds dead set on understanding how things work. (More than a few poets share these traits.)... Read More

Pity the poet who writes of salt ponds and claw marks on beech trees without the requisite natural-world familiarity. Better: pity her reader. There is no doubt that Dede Cummings’s hiking boots have suffered the ravages of Vermont... Read More