The title of Jason Schneiderman’s collection of poems, Sublimation Point, refers to the temperature at which some solids transform directly into gasses. The first of the book’s two epigraphs is the scientific definition of that term, taken from James A. Plambec’s Thermometry. That definition appears again in the book’s second epigraph—only now in the form […]
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Andrew Keller: The Paradox of Desire (A Review of Histories of Bodies, a poetry collection by Mariko Nagai)
Red Hen Press Want is the body’s fate: sitting while desiring to stand, standing while thinking about sitting. There is no end to our hunger, and once we taste the impracticality of lust, there is no way to quell our pain. If the body wants something, the body does what it must to fulfill its […]
Mercer Bufter: Landscapes I & II by Lesle Lewis
Alice James Books, 2006 When I opened to the Table of Contents of Lesle Lewis’s second book, Landscapes I & II, I received the first in a series of pleasant surprises. There was neither a Section I nor a Section II, but a listing of poems with charming and interesting titles such as “I Love […]
Ryan Wilson: Maybelle’s Floral Aroma
The window is closed. I closed it. It’s not that I don’t want anyone to climb in. Or shout in. I do. I’m gregarious and handsome. Except for my nose, which is crooked and slightly too big for my face. Back to the window though; I’d love nothing more than for someone to climb in. […]
Phong Nguyen: Two-Step and Wannabe
New Years Eve 1979, 11:38 pm Frances and I stood with our legs pushing into the ground, all our fingers locked in a stalemate game of Mercy. In bowling shoes, our feet slid around the barroom floor like toboggans. I had the height advantage, so I pointed my toes and came at him from the […]
Robynne Graffam: The Big Bulldozer Parade
It was just about 8:30 on Sunday morning when Jackson called to say that J.D. Satrey had gone crazy and stolen the boss’ bulldozer. Well as you can imagine I nearly jumped clear out of my shoes. I was being extra careful with the breakfast dishes, on account of Mama yelling at me if I […]