Esteban Rodríguez Reviews EDINBURGH NOTEBOOK, an Action Books poetry collection by Valerie Mejer Caso

There is no telling what anyone’s reaction to death will be, but for many putting pen to paper helps process … More

Esteban Rodríguez on THE TENANT OF FIRE, an award-winning University of Pittsburgh Press Press poetry collection by Ryan Black

The writer Jay McInerney once said that every generation needed a Manhattan novel, one that captured the culture and sentiment … More

Esteban Rodríguez on Alen Hamza’s CSU Poetry Center debut collection TWICE THERE WAS A COUNTRY

Winner of the 2019 Cleveland State University Poetry Center First Book Competition, Alen Hamza’s Twice There Was A Country is … More

HORSEPOWER, a University of Pittsburgh Press poetry collection by Joy Priest, reviewed by Esteban Rodríguez

Every state carries with it certain perceptions that often gloss over the nuances of what it has to offer. Coming … More

RIFT ZONE, a Red Hen Press poetry collection by Tess Taylor, reviewed by Esteban Rodríguez

Given the way history is inadequately taught throughout schools across the country, it’s safe to assume that it would be … More

Esteban Rodríguez on ARROWS, Dan Beachy-Quick’s seventh poetry collection (Tupelo Press)

At its core, poetry seeks to examine the relationship between things, and although there are many ways in which poets … More

Esteban Rodríguez on THE TRILOGY, an Action Books poetry collection by Bruno K. Öijer

Horace Engdahl, the former Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, once said that the United States was too isolated from … More

CATRACHOS, a Graywolf Press debut poetry collection by Roy G. Guzmán, reviewed by Esteban Rodríguez

Not too long ago, I described to a friend that the poetry of B.H. Fairchild was “muscular,” a word that … More

UNDOLL, a YesYes Books National Poetry Series debut collection by Tanya Grae, reviewed by Esteban Rodríguez

After finishing a book, it’s not uncommon for readers to express how they were left wanting more, wishing, for example, … More

HEED THE HOLLOW, a Graywolf Press debut poetry collection by Malcolm Tariq, reviewed by Esteban Rodríguez

There is something about the body that makes it an endless source for the written word. Whether exploring the body’s … More

THE BOOK OF DANIEL, the fourth collection from Pitt Poetry Series Author Aaron Smith, reviewed by Esteban Rodríguez

If someone recommended a book titled The Book of Daniel, you might be inclined to believe that it has, in … More

UGLY MUSIC, a poetry collection by Diannely Antigua, reviewed by Esteban Rodríguez

Diannely Antigua’s debut collection Ugly Music is a lyrical collage that meditates on childhood, trauma, survival, sexual identity, love, loss, … More

STAY, a poetry collection by Tanya Olson, reviewed by Esteban Rodríguez

Loss and departure can be tricky to write about; on the one hand, they’re something that every one of us … More

SETTLERS, a poetry collection by F. Daniel Rzicznek, reviewed by Esteban Rodríguez

In his latest collection, F. Daniel Rzicznek leads readers through a world ripe with abandonment and haunted by fragments of … More

Five Poems by Esteban Rodriguez

Landscape with tree and leg Then you come across a tree,and hanging from its branch you find a leg—long, pale, … More