Category: Reviews & Criticism

“Disclosure of the Divine Through the Self”: Edward J. Matthews Reads Spyridon St. Kogkas’ Avant-Garde Poetry Collection Hermeslang

At the dawn of the 21st century, language is no longer a purely semantic enterprise, that is, an assemblage of words, phrases, and sentences that convey ideas, concepts, and emotions. Granted, language may at times be polysemic, ironic, or ambiguous, which are qualities that have often been exploited in traditional forms of poetry. Today, language…
Fiction Review: Isabelle Zhu Reads Ann Cavlovic’s Novel Count on Me

On the topic of workplace harassment, one of my former colleagues once made the remark, “You should be able to advocate for yourself, since you’re mature.” For him, the capacity to believe that one’s version of reality is legitimate and ought to be fought for is a necessary condition of maturity. He implied that there…
Poetry Review: Matt Betts Reads Samiya Bashir’s Collection I Hope This Helps

It’s hard not to be floored by I Hope This Helps by Samiya Bashir. The pieces in this collection come at us from unexpected directions and sneak up in stealth mode. The first piece “The Dressmaker” shows up, unannounced to let us know this isn’t going to go the way we expect it to. It…
“Cheers to the Weirdos!”: Jesi Bender Presents a Heavy Feather Favorites List for 2025

Here we go again! Putting together this year brings me such joy and I hope you find something beautiful here, too. Sometimes, it can seem as if no one reads anymore but making this list reassures me that there are a lot of us out there, still trying to learn, still trying to create, still…
Review: Matt Martinson Reads Kelly Krumrie’s Genre-Defying Book No Measure

I remember reading Martin Heidegger’s What Is Called Thinking? in grad school, with his near-constant refrain: “The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking.” He saw a world in which human industry was advancing even as the ability or willingness to ask the big questions about life was…
Poetry Review: Dawn Macdonald Reads Aisha Sasha John’s New Collection total

Aisha Sasha John is a dancer. Aisha Sasha John writes in ALL CAPS. Aisha Sasha John is a wise woman/wise guy; is funny/not funny. Aisha Sasha John is not on the Internet as much as you might expect for someone who writes as if large portions of the Internet are being continuously generated out of…
“Flag of the Patriot in the Country of Dignity”: Peter Mladinic Reviews Mark Danowsky’s Poetry Collection Take Care

In this world where there are more machines than at any time in history, and nuclear weaponry, and divisions between and within nations, the poems in Mark Danowsky’s Take Care, dedicated to the caregivers, are in their own way political. We hear them, see them, feel them. The thrust of some poems is vertical, others…
Fiction Review: Ria Dhull Reads Osvalde Lewat’s Novel The Aquatics

Osvalde Lewat’s debut novel examines the laws and social structure of Zambuena, the fictional African country within which The Aquatics takes place. Zambuena appears to be a thinly-veiled Cameroon, Lewat’s home nation; the fictional country and the real country have numerous similarities: a French colonial history, a Christian majority, ethnic diversity, and social restrictions, notably…
Poetry Review: Scott Ferry Reads Luke Johnson’s Collection Distributary

In the rare and happy occasion of receiving a new Luke Johnson poetry book, one is ready to be floored. Those of us who have read :boys and Quiver know what we will get; it is not predictability, but surprising turns and brilliance. As we turn the first page of Distributary we encounter: “For you,…