Burning the Bacon by L. Austen Johnson comprises four distinct sections of poetry – Gravity, In Memoriam, Entropy, and Parthenogenesis. These titles fascinated me before I began to read. The title poem, Burning the Bacon, is a declaration of love whilst Molded, one line of...

Matt Nagin’s Butterflies Lost Within The Crooked Moonlight is a collection of poetry that speaks about all aspects of life. The voice that crosses every page feels like defibrillation treatment. It has a commanding jolt that makes the reader sit up and take almost immediate...

Birnam Wood by José Manuel Cardona is an elegant, epic, fecund odyssey of lyrical imagery, steeped in time-honored mythic tradition and yet endlessly inventive. Cardona is alternately stentorian and coy – his imagery swells like distant thunder even as it dances. In the truest Shakespearean...

Only a small percentage of poetry can move me. I like Poe and I’m fond of Japanese Haiku. Maybe that is why I liked Paul Tait’s Boston Dialect: Volume Two so much. Most of it is sharp, insightful and to the point. But some of...

Nicole Lyons’ Blossom and Bone is an engaging collection of poems containing honest and heartfelt expressions. The language makes use of striking words that arouse intense feelings. In the poem “Melancholy”, the poet states, “Melancholy, my longest lost lover has returned, to dance with me,...

In his introduction to Bard Bart: Poetic Rhymes and Punchlines, Barton Johnson writes, “At the very least this book is a tangible part of my life’s legacy, something profoundly and intimately personal to offer to the world.” These words prove to be true because this...

Breath of Joy! Ah, Autumn by Kathy Joy falls into the genre of children’s picture books. This book would appeal most to a mixed audience of children and parents who wish to embrace the season of autumn. This book utilizes images and words to bring...

The first poem in Boston Dialect: Volume One, Ashes Lent, gives a hint at a religious, or at least deep-thinking man in Paul Tait. According to the introduction, none of the poems had titles originally; they were an expression of his on-going thoughts. The titles...

Beyond Rock Bottom: A Collection of Poetry by Kara Petrovic is a compilation of the author's prose, chronicling some incredibly dark and difficult times in life. There is a cautionary clause as the book begins, a trigger warning for depictions that include suicide, mental illness,...

Black Butterfly: The Journey - The Victory by Lorna Jackie Wilson is a book of the author's poetry, compiled into a collection of poems. Separated into two sections, the poetry compilation and tributes, Wilson shares her experiences as a child in the foster care system,...