Category: Reviews & Criticism

Nonfiction Review: James Ardis on Kingdom Hearts II by Alexa Ray Corriea

In the final hours of the Square Enix game Kingdom Hearts II, a bad boy named Axel sacrifices himself in the middle of an overwhelming battle. He swings his weapon and summons fire until he falls in exhaustion. As he dies next to Sora (our protagonist) with Donald Duck and Goofy not far behind, Axel…
Poetry Review: Lucas Pingel Reads Matt Mauch’s Bird∼Brain

In the first lines of Matt Mauch’s third collection of poems, titled Bird∼Brain, he compares a songbird to “an estate sale ad/ packed with so many implausibly well-kept/ treasures”. The same could also be said for the poems in this book, which are packed to the brim with imagination, and dazzling in their linguistic and…
Graphic Novel Review: Ryan Werner on Jesse Jacobs’ Crawl Space

*Ed.’s Note: click images to view larger sizes. One time at the preschool where I work, a four-year-old asked me what “orange” means. I said it was a color, like pink or red, and she didn’t get it. So, I told her it was like a carrot or cheddar cheese or an orange itself, the…
Poetry Review: Thel Seraphim Reads Elegy Department Spring by Kay Gabriel

Begin with the cover, apparently a cropped still from the last scene of the 1971 Warhol/Morrissey movie, Women in Revolt. The movie follows the trans Warhol superstars Jackie Curtis, Candy Darling, and Holly Woodlawn, on a romp through a parodic women’s group called PIGs (Politically Involved Girls). Candy has left it all behind to become…
“The day woke with a (*)”: Xan Schwartz Reads Sheila McMullin’s daughterrarium

Sheila McMullin’s collection daughterrarium immediately piques the reader’s interest with a perfectly placed asterisk. The strange natural imagery and experimental form in “Tapering” introduce both mystery and play, two ideas that stream throughout the collection. My sister also said * we think because of our mother; (I) feared * and (I) held (I) Interrupted *: Many…
“Sometimes I tried never to think about the past. Sometimes I tried always to think about the past.”: Jackson Nieuwland Reviews This Paper Boat by Gregory Kan

We are often told that every first book is an autobiography. With This Paper Boat, Gregory Kan subverts this expectation. This book-length sequence of poems intertwines Kan’s autobiographical writing with the work of Iris Wilkinson (a New Zealand writer who published under the name Robin Hyde in the 1930s), as well as other found language.…
“You Remember, Don’t You?”: Meghan Lamb Reviews Harold Abramowitz’s Blind Spot

This book has built a space to wander through. The narrator is going to wander. The reader may follow him, if they so choose. The narrator will not prohibit them from following, nor will he take their hand, nor explain where he’s going, nor why he is looking wherever he’s looking. This book has…
Aaron Seward on Colin Dodds’ Novel Watershed

A question of paternity. A mysterious billionaire of profound depravity. A part-time call girl whose mythic beauty is up for grabs. A washed up artist breeding snakes to make ends meet. A near-future America bloated with big government and digital media, teetering on the brink of its own tackiness, about as prestigious as a fart.…
“a city grrl lured”: Jesse-Rice Evans on Kam Hilliard’s Perceived Distance from Impact

It’s safe to say that the most revelatory work in contemporary poetry is at the hands of Black queers & femmes: Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Angel Nafis, Jamila Woods, Jayson P. Smith, and bright among these, Kamden Hilliard. Kam edits Jellyfish and Big Lucks, two poetic institutions working hard to make room for marginalized writers. Having…