Nothing into Nothing
I Will Be Corrupted, Joseph A. Dandurand. Guernica Editions, 2020.
In the poem, “Whisper from you,” Joseph Dandurand rants about “one ass of an editor” (this is in the very last poem of this fine collection and presumably there for a reason), who tells him he should “add some imagery to [his] work.” I actually laughed out loud.
Last Things
Field Requiem, Sheri Benning, Carcanet, 2022
The forthcoming Spring 2022 issue of The Fiddlehead is now available for pre-order!
The issue will feature the winning poem and short story from The Fiddlehead's 2021 poetry and fiction contests as well as work from authors such as Sylvie Simmons, John Barton and many more!
Dan O’Brien is a poet and playwright. His poetry collections include Our Cancers, War Reporter, New Life, and Scarsdale. O’Brien is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Drama and two PEN America Awards for playwriting. His work has been published in several issue of The Fiddlehead, most recently in issue 283 (Spring 2020). He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.
Enjoy this sneak peak inside the cover of the new Autumn issue, which will be available soon!
Enjoy this sneak peak inside the cover of the new Autumn issue, which will be available soon!
Asking the Impossible
Any God Will Do, Virginia Konchan. Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2020.
While reading Halifax-based poet Virginia Konchan’s second collection, I experienced my capacity for feeling — in the broadest, most contradictory sense — expand. In fact, Any God Will Do seems to me essentially about excess (of feeling, of stimulus, of being) and about the idea of divinity as an overwhelming localization of the too-much.
. . . she opened the door of a star quietly
Poems — Selected Books Volume II, Yannis Ritsos Trans. Manolis Aligizakis. Ekstasis Editions, 2020
Boundaries
Gold Rush, Claire Caldwell. Invisible Publishing 2020
It is not the poem which closes
A Tent, A Lantern, An Empty Bowl and Keeping Count, M. Travis Lane. Gordon Hill Press, 2020
Let’s begin with rocks and mud.
The poem “May Rocks,” which appears nearly midway through Keeping Count, M. Travis Lane’s most recent collection, begins with a single-word sentence: “Spring.” This is followed by rocks that “butt and push” in a lawn “jagged with dragon’s teeth.” It continues:
