review

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Review: Alexis Rhone Fancher and Cynthia Atkins’s Duets

Alexis Rhone Fancher and Cynthia Atkins’s Duets Duets by Alexis Rhone Fancher and Cynthia Atkins is the result of a friendship and collaboration between the two poets. Each of them responded to Fancher’s photography and the result is a collection that captures the anxiety and inward-turning that we, or at least I, have felt over …

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Review: Anchor by Rebecca Aronson

Anchor by Rebecca Aronson Rebecca Aronson’s third book of poetry, Anchor, is a gorgeous collection of ruminative observations born of her experiences with the final illnesses of her parents. Reflecting on her father’s loss of balance and her mother’s loss of memory, Aronson’s poems contemplate the inexorable pull of gravity that destabilizes her father physically, …

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Review: River Woman, River Demon by Jenn Givhan

Review: River Woman, River Demon by Jenn Givhan What I especially loved about Jenn Givhan’s gripping new novel River Woman, River Demon was the blending and seamless explanation of magicks, how Givhan sustained and ratcheted up the tension incrementally, how names have power and meaning, and yes, even the unreliable narrator who depicts mental health struggles …

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Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein at La Mirada Theatre

La Mirada Theatre’s revival of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein is a certain cure for the post-pandemic blues. This hilarious send-up of the Mary Shelley classic never seems to lose its irreverent vitality. Director Jeff Whiting lets loose his performers to go straight for the belly laughs and the result is outright therapeutic hilarity. Brooks’ brilliant …

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Review: Wherever I’m At: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry, Donald G. Evans and Robin Metz, Eds.

Review of Wherever I’m At: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry, Donald G. Evans and Robin Metz, eds.   Wherever I’m At: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry is the brainchild of Robin Metz, who gathered work for years before cancer finally led him to join forces with and ultimately pass the project on to the poet …

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Review: Nightmares & Miracles by Michelle Bitting

Poetry Review: Nightmares & Miracles by Michelle Bitting Michelle Bitting’s Nightmares & Miracles goes straight into the center of things that matter, but that is not surprising. Bitting is a poet who never wastes our time. She helps us to understand what is magic and horrible in our world as the title of this collection suggests. …

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“Saudade”: Review of Through a Grainy Landscape by Millicent Borges Accardi

“Saudade”: Review of Through a Grainy Landscape by Millicent Borges Accardi by Angele Ellis   Saudade is the most Portuguese word to make its way into the English language, so rich and nuanced that it is nearly untranslatable. Wikipedia takes this stab at definition: “…a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for something …

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Conversation with Poet Gloria Mindock

Recently poet Susan Tepper got together with poet Gloria Mindock to talk about destruction, hearts, and Gloria’s new poetry collection Ash, which is based on true crime stories. Here’s what they said: Susan Tepper (ST): Yesterday, when I asked if you’d like to talk about your multi-prize-winning poetry collection Ash, the tragedy at the Highland Park …

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