Best Poetry Collections of 2013
O Holy Insurgency by Mary Biddinger (Black Lawrence Press) Biddinger’s newest collection turns the broken Midwest landscape into a utopian world, a place where heroes and heroines could be children buying cigarettes or lovers relishing the feel of broken glass and the smell of gasoline.
Burn This House by Kelly Davio (Red Hen) Davio’s debut poetry book is a collection of quiet observations about the intersections between secular life and spiritual awakenings. See here for my more complete review here.
In the Kingdom of the Ditch by Todd Davis (Michigan State University Press) Davis returns to the natural world in his fourth full-length collection of poetry that explores grief and healing through the Pennsylvania rural landscape (which of course, is my favorite landscape!)
Unexplained Fevers by Jeannine Hall Gailey (New Binary Press) In her newest collection of poetry, Gailey returns to the Fairy Tale World, with new narratives that reach beyond the boundaries of make-believe places. See here for a more complete review of this collection.
Render: An Apocalypse by Rebecca Gayle Howell (Cleveland State University Poetry Center) At first glance, Howell’s Render reminds us of a survival manual for a future apocalypse, but a closer read reveals that her poems teach us how to navigate and survive the everyday – even those days that don’t seem disastrous. Read here for a more complete review of her book.
Render by Collin Kelley (Sibling Rivalry Press) In Kelley’s latest collection, he explores the past through stories blending narratives with historical events and pop culture, reminding us that we are shaped by what has already happened, his work haunted by the presence of Margot Kidder, Fred Rogers and Three Mile Island.
The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths by Sandy Longhorn (Jacar Press) Longhorn’s second full length book of poetry is a collection of coming-of-age Midwestern narratives disguised as contemporary fairy tales. My favorite poem, “Cautionary Tale for Girls Caught Up in the Machinary” depicts the demise of a young girl, pulled into farm equipment, leaving only “a scrap of cloth” proving “she hadn’t simply wandered off.”
The Stick Soldiers by Hugh Martin (Boa Editions) Many readers will likely think of Brian Turner’s poems as they read Stick Soldiers, a powerful collection of work that explores the turmoil of the warfront as well as the difficult return home.
Scoring the Silent Film by Keith Montesano (Dream Horse Press) Montesano’s second full length collection of poetry explores our world through the viewpoints of minor characters in movies. Whether we are reading about a high school physics teacher who watches one of his students get shot, or seeing the reactions of a man who is ducking bullets in Total Recall, we are part of an exploration of the human condition and how we interact with the often violent world around us.
Some Kind of Shelter by Sara Tracey (Misty Publications) In her debut full-length collection of poetry, Tracey details the stories of two cousins – one who leaves Rust Belt Ohio and the other who stays – while intertwining their narratives with other portraits of the working-class world. Whether she is narrating a story about a couple who finds a comatose teenage girl in a trash bag of garbage or reciting a hymn-like mantra praising a town that is “a call girl knee-deep/in raspberry Jell-O” Tracey brings beauty and hope to a world that seems void of both.
O Holy Insurgency by Mary Biddinger (Black Lawrence Press) Biddinger’s newest collection turns the broken Midwest landscape into a utopian world, a place where heroes and heroines could be children buying cigarettes or lovers relishing the feel of broken glass and the smell of gasoline.
Burn This House by Kelly Davio (Red Hen) Davio’s debut poetry book is a collection of quiet observations about the intersections between secular life and spiritual awakenings. See here for my more complete review here.
In the Kingdom of the Ditch by Todd Davis (Michigan State University Press) Davis returns to the natural world in his fourth full-length collection of poetry that explores grief and healing through the Pennsylvania rural landscape (which of course, is my favorite landscape!)
Unexplained Fevers by Jeannine Hall Gailey (New Binary Press) In her newest collection of poetry, Gailey returns to the Fairy Tale World, with new narratives that reach beyond the boundaries of make-believe places. See here for a more complete review of this collection.
Render: An Apocalypse by Rebecca Gayle Howell (Cleveland State University Poetry Center) At first glance, Howell’s Render reminds us of a survival manual for a future apocalypse, but a closer read reveals that her poems teach us how to navigate and survive the everyday – even those days that don’t seem disastrous. Read here for a more complete review of her book.
Render by Collin Kelley (Sibling Rivalry Press) In Kelley’s latest collection, he explores the past through stories blending narratives with historical events and pop culture, reminding us that we are shaped by what has already happened, his work haunted by the presence of Margot Kidder, Fred Rogers and Three Mile Island.
The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths by Sandy Longhorn (Jacar Press) Longhorn’s second full length book of poetry is a collection of coming-of-age Midwestern narratives disguised as contemporary fairy tales. My favorite poem, “Cautionary Tale for Girls Caught Up in the Machinary” depicts the demise of a young girl, pulled into farm equipment, leaving only “a scrap of cloth” proving “she hadn’t simply wandered off.”
The Stick Soldiers by Hugh Martin (Boa Editions) Many readers will likely think of Brian Turner’s poems as they read Stick Soldiers, a powerful collection of work that explores the turmoil of the warfront as well as the difficult return home.
Scoring the Silent Film by Keith Montesano (Dream Horse Press) Montesano’s second full length collection of poetry explores our world through the viewpoints of minor characters in movies. Whether we are reading about a high school physics teacher who watches one of his students get shot, or seeing the reactions of a man who is ducking bullets in Total Recall, we are part of an exploration of the human condition and how we interact with the often violent world around us.
Some Kind of Shelter by Sara Tracey (Misty Publications) In her debut full-length collection of poetry, Tracey details the stories of two cousins – one who leaves Rust Belt Ohio and the other who stays – while intertwining their narratives with other portraits of the working-class world. Whether she is narrating a story about a couple who finds a comatose teenage girl in a trash bag of garbage or reciting a hymn-like mantra praising a town that is “a call girl knee-deep/in raspberry Jell-O” Tracey brings beauty and hope to a world that seems void of both.
Best Chapbook Collections of 2013
beautiful, sinister by Kristy Bowen (Maverick Duck Press) Bowen’s collection of prose poems is a story in verse -- through lyrical language intertwined in a gothic atmosphere, we meet three sisters whose lives are tangled in love, lust and tragedy.
Fantasies of Men by William Lusk Coppage (Main Street Rag) Winner of the 2012 Main Street Rag Chapbook Contest, Coppage’s chapbook is a collection of journeys through the Mississippi Delta. Solemn, yet beautiful, these poems pluck readers from wherever they are and plunk them down on backroads and in rivers, among fish noodlers, bird hunters and boys who flirt with their small town girls all the while dreaming of bigger places.
Improvised Devices by Brandon Courtney (Thrush Press) From the first poem where the narrator watches two little boys play at war, readers are introduced to a collection that explores the vulnerability of humans, whether they are teenagers spinning uncontrollably through their lives in American small towns or soldiers describing their everyday lives through personal accounts of the world around them intertwined with memories of home.
Town Crazy by John Cullen (Slipstream) Winner of Slipstream’s 26th Annual Chapbook Contest, Cullen’s collection which explores is reminiscent of Edgar Lee Master’s Spoon River Anthology, except that Cullen’s characters and landscapes are wilder, crazier, and yes, more endearing.
[Understory] by Karen Dietrich (dancing girl press) Dietrich’s work is always a favorite, and her newest chapbook, which offers glimpses of her childhood in Pennsylvania, explores themes of love and family, and the complicated relationships between the two.
The Everyday Parade/Alone with Turntable, Old Records by Justin Hamm (Crisis Chronicles Press) Formatted and printed to imitate a record with two sides, Hamm’s newest chapbook explores the Midwestern landscape and people through song and lyrical narratives.
Describing the Dark by Joyce Kessel (Saddleroad Press) Kessel’s chapbook is an homage to Buffalo, New York, but any reader from a Rust Belt city will recognize the tributes to people (both past and present) and the flawed, yet beautiful landscapes that stitch together a city.
The Gospel of the Bleeding Woman by Katie Manning (Point Loma Press) In her first chapbook, Manning imagines the life of a minor Biblical character, the bleeding woman who is healed by Jesus. Divided in half, the book details the woman’s life before her cure and then in the second half, moves into more contemporary times, exploring the intersections of faith and spirituality.
Scrap Metal Mantra Poems by Ken Meisel (Main Street Rag) In his newest collection of work, Meisel plays tribute to Rust Belt places and people. With a spiritual reverence, these poems depict narrators who find Jesus in scrapyards, a couple who marries in a junkyard, and a single bird singing a hymn in debris.
We’re Smaller than We Think We Are by Allyson Whipple (Finishing Line Press) From the opening poem, “Fleeing Oklahoma” readers of Whipple’s first chapbook will be on a roadtrip: a journey that does more than take us on the backroads and open highways of America. Instead, this collection explores the search for identity and where we may find it – in old cars, in dusty homes, in our own bodies.
beautiful, sinister by Kristy Bowen (Maverick Duck Press) Bowen’s collection of prose poems is a story in verse -- through lyrical language intertwined in a gothic atmosphere, we meet three sisters whose lives are tangled in love, lust and tragedy.
Fantasies of Men by William Lusk Coppage (Main Street Rag) Winner of the 2012 Main Street Rag Chapbook Contest, Coppage’s chapbook is a collection of journeys through the Mississippi Delta. Solemn, yet beautiful, these poems pluck readers from wherever they are and plunk them down on backroads and in rivers, among fish noodlers, bird hunters and boys who flirt with their small town girls all the while dreaming of bigger places.
Improvised Devices by Brandon Courtney (Thrush Press) From the first poem where the narrator watches two little boys play at war, readers are introduced to a collection that explores the vulnerability of humans, whether they are teenagers spinning uncontrollably through their lives in American small towns or soldiers describing their everyday lives through personal accounts of the world around them intertwined with memories of home.
Town Crazy by John Cullen (Slipstream) Winner of Slipstream’s 26th Annual Chapbook Contest, Cullen’s collection which explores is reminiscent of Edgar Lee Master’s Spoon River Anthology, except that Cullen’s characters and landscapes are wilder, crazier, and yes, more endearing.
[Understory] by Karen Dietrich (dancing girl press) Dietrich’s work is always a favorite, and her newest chapbook, which offers glimpses of her childhood in Pennsylvania, explores themes of love and family, and the complicated relationships between the two.
The Everyday Parade/Alone with Turntable, Old Records by Justin Hamm (Crisis Chronicles Press) Formatted and printed to imitate a record with two sides, Hamm’s newest chapbook explores the Midwestern landscape and people through song and lyrical narratives.
Describing the Dark by Joyce Kessel (Saddleroad Press) Kessel’s chapbook is an homage to Buffalo, New York, but any reader from a Rust Belt city will recognize the tributes to people (both past and present) and the flawed, yet beautiful landscapes that stitch together a city.
The Gospel of the Bleeding Woman by Katie Manning (Point Loma Press) In her first chapbook, Manning imagines the life of a minor Biblical character, the bleeding woman who is healed by Jesus. Divided in half, the book details the woman’s life before her cure and then in the second half, moves into more contemporary times, exploring the intersections of faith and spirituality.
Scrap Metal Mantra Poems by Ken Meisel (Main Street Rag) In his newest collection of work, Meisel plays tribute to Rust Belt places and people. With a spiritual reverence, these poems depict narrators who find Jesus in scrapyards, a couple who marries in a junkyard, and a single bird singing a hymn in debris.
We’re Smaller than We Think We Are by Allyson Whipple (Finishing Line Press) From the opening poem, “Fleeing Oklahoma” readers of Whipple’s first chapbook will be on a roadtrip: a journey that does more than take us on the backroads and open highways of America. Instead, this collection explores the search for identity and where we may find it – in old cars, in dusty homes, in our own bodies.
Best Poetry Collections of 2012
The Wishing Tomb by Amanda Auchter (Perugia Press) New Orleans takes center stage in Auchter’s second poetry collection. Exploring the Crescent City’s deep history through a strong lyrical voice, Auchter presents a diverse and mysterious past that has created this resilient city.
Notes to the Beloved by Michelle Bitting (Sacramento Poetry Center Press) Winner of the 2011 Sacramento Poetry Center Book Contest, Notes to the Beloved is collection that makes the familiar, including everyday fairy tales and portraits of wayward boys, just a bit more surreal.
Red Army Red by Jehanne Dubrow (Triquarterly) In her fourth full-length collection, Dubrow remembers the Cold War from behind the Iron Curtain in a variety of works intertwining coming-of-age stories with the larger, more political world.
Plume by Kathleen Flenniken (University of Washington) Flenniken grew up next door to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state and worked at Hanford for three years as a civil engineer and hydrologist. Plume is a collection of poems that explore both the poet’s place in this world, as well as Hanford’s role in a larger part of America’s nuclear history.
The Pattern Maker’s Daughter by Sandee Gertz Umbach (Bottom Dog Press) Part exploration of place and history, part coming-of-age narrative, Gertz’s debut collection of poetry brings the reader to the heart of working-class Pennsylvania with her thoughtful narratives of growing up near Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
In Broken Latin by Annette Spaulding-Convy (University of Arkansas Press) A woman’s spiritual journey is chronicled in Spaulding-Convy’s semi-autographical collection of poems that includes both narratives and lyrical musings.
Paradise, Indiana by Bruce Snider (LSU Press) A book length elegy mourning the death of a beloved cousin, these poems also explore Midwestern life in its gritty elegance. I posted a more complete review here.
The Death of Flying Things by Gabriel Welsch (WordTech) Welsch returns to rural Pennsylvania (a favorite place of mine, if I do say so myself) in his second collection, where he explores both the wonder and tragedy of rural life.
Notes from the Journey Westward by Joe Wilkins (White Pine Press) Blending both historical and personal pasts, Wilkins returns to the hardscrabble landscape of the American west, depicting the lives of the people who live there.
The Road to Happiness by Johnathon Williams (Antilever Press) In his debut collections, Williams goes on a road trip through the landscape of rural Arkansas, chronicling a family’s past through narrative poems full of gravel and grit.
The Wishing Tomb by Amanda Auchter (Perugia Press) New Orleans takes center stage in Auchter’s second poetry collection. Exploring the Crescent City’s deep history through a strong lyrical voice, Auchter presents a diverse and mysterious past that has created this resilient city.
Notes to the Beloved by Michelle Bitting (Sacramento Poetry Center Press) Winner of the 2011 Sacramento Poetry Center Book Contest, Notes to the Beloved is collection that makes the familiar, including everyday fairy tales and portraits of wayward boys, just a bit more surreal.
Red Army Red by Jehanne Dubrow (Triquarterly) In her fourth full-length collection, Dubrow remembers the Cold War from behind the Iron Curtain in a variety of works intertwining coming-of-age stories with the larger, more political world.
Plume by Kathleen Flenniken (University of Washington) Flenniken grew up next door to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state and worked at Hanford for three years as a civil engineer and hydrologist. Plume is a collection of poems that explore both the poet’s place in this world, as well as Hanford’s role in a larger part of America’s nuclear history.
The Pattern Maker’s Daughter by Sandee Gertz Umbach (Bottom Dog Press) Part exploration of place and history, part coming-of-age narrative, Gertz’s debut collection of poetry brings the reader to the heart of working-class Pennsylvania with her thoughtful narratives of growing up near Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
In Broken Latin by Annette Spaulding-Convy (University of Arkansas Press) A woman’s spiritual journey is chronicled in Spaulding-Convy’s semi-autographical collection of poems that includes both narratives and lyrical musings.
Paradise, Indiana by Bruce Snider (LSU Press) A book length elegy mourning the death of a beloved cousin, these poems also explore Midwestern life in its gritty elegance. I posted a more complete review here.
The Death of Flying Things by Gabriel Welsch (WordTech) Welsch returns to rural Pennsylvania (a favorite place of mine, if I do say so myself) in his second collection, where he explores both the wonder and tragedy of rural life.
Notes from the Journey Westward by Joe Wilkins (White Pine Press) Blending both historical and personal pasts, Wilkins returns to the hardscrabble landscape of the American west, depicting the lives of the people who live there.
The Road to Happiness by Johnathon Williams (Antilever Press) In his debut collections, Williams goes on a road trip through the landscape of rural Arkansas, chronicling a family’s past through narrative poems full of gravel and grit.
Best Chapbook Collections of 2012
High Voltage Lines by Tiel Aisha Ansari (Barefoot Muse Press) Ansari, in her latest collection, practices the fine art of poetic form; exploring the villanelle, the sestina, and the ghazal, she twists verse through journeys that seek to find a deep spirituality in today’s world.
To the One Who Raped Me by Dustin Brookshire (Sibling Rivalry Press) Brookshire, poet and activist, was raped in 2006 by a former boyfriend. His chapbook is a brutal but poignant journey of pain, rediscovery and hope in the aftermath of violence and in a world that often times, remains unforgiving.
An Amateur Marriage by Jessie Carty (Finishing Line Press) Carty’s chapbook, Fat Girl, made last year’s list, and I’m thrilled to see her here again! Her newest chapbook, An Amateur Marriage is an exploration of domestic life told through the position of the television set in the living room and the type of laundry soap used in the wash. Some may be doubtful that such seemingly mundane details could make poetry happen – Carty’s work will convince them otherwise.
Braiding the Storm by Laura E. Davis (Finishing Line Press) Davis’s first chapbook is a gritty collection of coming-of-age narratives, depicting a young narrator living through loss and personal struggles. Set against the backdrop of Pittsburgh, Davis’s poems are both street smart and surreal.
Friday in the Republic of Me by Justin Evans (Foothills Publishing) Balancing the political with the private, Evans’ newest chapbook explores heroism in both war and on the homefront. In many of Evans’ poems, he confronts contemporary America, in its flawed reliance on technology and fantasy superheroes. Yet, this collection displays hope with the middle poem, “Ode to Neruda” that calls for change in a near future.
Nocturnes by Kathleen Kirk (Hyacinth Girl Press) Kirk delivers once again in her newest chapbook which explores the night in all its phantoms and dark mysteries. Sometimes we see ghosts, sometimes we see familiar scenes cloaked in shadows, always we see wonderful lyrical verse.
The Story You Tell Yourself by Heather Kirn Lanier (Kent State University Press) In this debut collection, Lanier reinvents all the familiar stories we know, creating a surreal mythology we all want to believe, all stories we tell ourselves until we are sure they are true.
The Book of Women by Dorianne Laux (Red Dragonfly Press) Detailing stories of women’s lives through roadtrips and second-hand clothes, The Book of Women is an excellent companion piece to Laux’s The Book of Men published last year.
Women Who Pawn Their Jewelry by Sheila Squillante (Finishing Line Press) Squillante’s collection is more than depictions of women who pawn their jewelry. (Although the title poem is wonderful!) Instead, she offers portraits of contemporary lives told through everyday events: a teenager watches the relationship of her parents on a first family vacation, a narrator recounts wedding advice from her grandmother, a woman has lunch with her ex-husband.
I Fall in Love with Strangers by Kelly Scarff (Nerve Cowboy) Loss haunts the characters who wander in and out of Scarff’s debut chapbook collection. Told with a blue-collar edge, Scarff’s litany of characters may have familiar tales, but the narratives depicted are haunting enough that the reader walking away from this collection will long remember both the voices and the stories.
High Voltage Lines by Tiel Aisha Ansari (Barefoot Muse Press) Ansari, in her latest collection, practices the fine art of poetic form; exploring the villanelle, the sestina, and the ghazal, she twists verse through journeys that seek to find a deep spirituality in today’s world.
To the One Who Raped Me by Dustin Brookshire (Sibling Rivalry Press) Brookshire, poet and activist, was raped in 2006 by a former boyfriend. His chapbook is a brutal but poignant journey of pain, rediscovery and hope in the aftermath of violence and in a world that often times, remains unforgiving.
An Amateur Marriage by Jessie Carty (Finishing Line Press) Carty’s chapbook, Fat Girl, made last year’s list, and I’m thrilled to see her here again! Her newest chapbook, An Amateur Marriage is an exploration of domestic life told through the position of the television set in the living room and the type of laundry soap used in the wash. Some may be doubtful that such seemingly mundane details could make poetry happen – Carty’s work will convince them otherwise.
Braiding the Storm by Laura E. Davis (Finishing Line Press) Davis’s first chapbook is a gritty collection of coming-of-age narratives, depicting a young narrator living through loss and personal struggles. Set against the backdrop of Pittsburgh, Davis’s poems are both street smart and surreal.
Friday in the Republic of Me by Justin Evans (Foothills Publishing) Balancing the political with the private, Evans’ newest chapbook explores heroism in both war and on the homefront. In many of Evans’ poems, he confronts contemporary America, in its flawed reliance on technology and fantasy superheroes. Yet, this collection displays hope with the middle poem, “Ode to Neruda” that calls for change in a near future.
Nocturnes by Kathleen Kirk (Hyacinth Girl Press) Kirk delivers once again in her newest chapbook which explores the night in all its phantoms and dark mysteries. Sometimes we see ghosts, sometimes we see familiar scenes cloaked in shadows, always we see wonderful lyrical verse.
The Story You Tell Yourself by Heather Kirn Lanier (Kent State University Press) In this debut collection, Lanier reinvents all the familiar stories we know, creating a surreal mythology we all want to believe, all stories we tell ourselves until we are sure they are true.
The Book of Women by Dorianne Laux (Red Dragonfly Press) Detailing stories of women’s lives through roadtrips and second-hand clothes, The Book of Women is an excellent companion piece to Laux’s The Book of Men published last year.
Women Who Pawn Their Jewelry by Sheila Squillante (Finishing Line Press) Squillante’s collection is more than depictions of women who pawn their jewelry. (Although the title poem is wonderful!) Instead, she offers portraits of contemporary lives told through everyday events: a teenager watches the relationship of her parents on a first family vacation, a narrator recounts wedding advice from her grandmother, a woman has lunch with her ex-husband.
I Fall in Love with Strangers by Kelly Scarff (Nerve Cowboy) Loss haunts the characters who wander in and out of Scarff’s debut chapbook collection. Told with a blue-collar edge, Scarff’s litany of characters may have familiar tales, but the narratives depicted are haunting enough that the reader walking away from this collection will long remember both the voices and the stories.
Best Poetry Collections of 2011
The Lifting Dress by Lauren Berry (Penguin) Poetic Southern Gothic at its best, Berry’s collection documents a young girl’s flight from the dark fury of her swampy and sultry town. Berry’s narratives are so rich with lyrical language, you will forget that you are reading a collection that explores the unapologetic darkness of violence.
The Book of What Says by James Crews (University of Nebraska Press) Crews’ debut collection explores secret places and hidden lives. The middle section of the book, which chronicles the art and voice of artist Feliz Gonzalez-Torress whose work often acts as a commentary on the AIDS epidemic, is the best sequence of poems I have read in a long time.
She Returns to the Floating World by Jeannine Hall Gailey (Kitsune Books) Gailey’s strength is the persona poem, and in her second collection, she invites readers into the stories and fairy tales of the Fox-Wife, Yuki the Snow Maiden, and the Crane Wife – all figures from Japanese folklore. But don’t worry if you think that you will get lost in the collection’s magical realism, for intertwined in these fairy tales, are poems that explore our own precarious relationship with the Atomic Age.
Neighborhood Register by Marcus Jackson (CavanKerry Press) In his first collection of poetry, Jackson chronicles the lives of a working-class city neighborhood. In his narratives, we learn about “the Baddest Kid in the neighborhood,” “Mary at the tattoo shop” and even “Mr Bernard” a teacher assigned to speak about the wisdom of correct grammar to an eighth grade class. Especially wonderful are the odes sprinkled throughout the book – odes that seem to praise relatively mundane things, such as Kool-Aid or scholarships, yet in the hands of Jackson are deemed wonderful and spiritual objects.
After the Ark by Luke Johnson (NYQ Books) Combining the domestic with the spiritual, Johnson, in his first collection of poetry, explores both grief and celebration of life in his elegies (or elegy – some readers may read his book as one long elegy). Johnson avoids sentimentality, and instead focuses on the wisdom of looking for closure in the world around us.
Hurricane Party by Alison Pelegrin (University of Akron Press) Pelegrin’s third full length collection of poems celebrates today’s Louisiana – yes, we get the post Katrina poems, but we get odes about booze and pelicans (not in the same poem), poems about getting the “creeps” (a personal favorite), and narratives where the characters tubing on a river “toss hot dogs/to a coon hound abandoned/on the bank.” I’ve always admired the way that Pelegrin explores place as both a physical landscape and a specific cultural space, and her newest book did not disappoint me.
Predatory by Glenn Shaheen (University of Pittsburgh Press) Winner of the 2010 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, Shaheen’s work explores the silent and often forgotten places in America. Minimalism at its best, Predatory chronicles the solitude of what might be considered another lost generation.
A Witness in Exile by Brian Spears (Louisiana Literature Press) In his semi-autobiographical debut collection, Spears documents his religious upbringing as a Jehovah Witness while intertwining his present life in the landscape of the South. Spears’ work shows a deep vulnerability and reminds us that finding peace with our own lives, our own pasts, and our own spirituality is always a struggle – but a struggle that is of great importance.
Wait by Alison Stine (University of Wisconsin Press) Stine’s terrific follow-up to her first book, Ohio Violence, follows a young girl who seems to live in a midwestern Gothic fairy tale, plotting an escape with or without the help of those close to her.
Killing the Murnion Dogs by Joe Wilkins (Black Lawrence Press) In many ways, Wilkins’ first full length collection of poetry is a road trip through the back towns and dusty places in America. Most surely semi-autobiographical, Killing the Murnion Dogs takes the reader through struggling ranches and farms, old bars, and back alleys, all the while questioning what it means to go home, what it means to escape.
Best Chapbook Collections of 2011
The Scientific Method by Mary Alexandra Agner (Parallel Press) Exploring subjects ranging from the earth to the sky, Agner reviews the scientific world through a feminist lense, giving voices to women scientists including Florence Nightingale, Barbara McClintock, and Caroline Herschel. If you don’t know as much about science history as you should, (and I am placing myself in this category), then you will find yourself googling the women in Agner’s poems, learning about your scientific world through both history and Agner’s poetic praise.
I Stand Here Shredding Documents by Kristin Berkey-Abbott (Finishing Line Press) In her collection, when Berkey-Abbott asks, “How can I be a woman of mystery/when you see the contents of my grocery cart?” she is asking can we find contentment in today’s modern world? And I believe that the answer is yes! Through descriptions of crowded cubicles, boring office meetings, and traffic jams, the narrators in Berkey-Abbott’s world find a spiritual happiness in what many people may consider the most mundane aspects of our world.
Saint Monica by Mary Biddinger (Black Lawrence Press) Through the persona of Saint Monica and set in the Rust Belt Midwest, Biddinger chronicles the dilemmas and desires of today’s women through poems filled with both innocent longing and unflinching violence.
Fat Girl by Jessie Carty (Sibling Rivalry Press) Stripped to their own nakedness, Carty’s poems explore the struggles of us all as we try to fit into our own bodies. My favorite poem is “Fat Girl on Air Travel” where the narrator is a pro at passing through security by traveling with empty pockets and a full backpack, by holding slip-on shoes in her hand, by explaining, “You just want to pass.”
Anchor Glass by Karen Dietrich (Finishing Line Press) Dietrich’s chapbook debut is a respectful homage to little factory towns – especially little factory towns in Pennsylvania. See my complete review of this chapbook here.
Illinois, My Apologies by Justin Hamm (Rocksaw Press) Hamm’s portrayal of a rough and gritty Midwest will make any reader fall in love with the land and the men who toil there. See my complete review here.
The Mill Hunk’s Daughter Meets the Queen of Sky by Lori Jakiela (Finishing Line Press) Jakiela chronicles both her life at a flight attendant along with her relationship with her factory worker father in this collection of stark, narrative poems. My favorite work? In “My Father the Machinist Said” the narrator of the poem bluntly tells his daughter: “See the world. Fly right/Watch out for cockroaches.//Use your brains, princess./Don’t be like me.//Don’t work with your hands.”
Slow to Burn by Collin Kelley (Seven Kitchens Press) Part of Seven Kitchen Press’s Rebound series, Slow to Burn was originally published in 2006 by Metromania Press. Kelley’s slim volume of narrative poetry explore struggle and loss, and ultimately what it takes to unearth our own identities.
Foreclosure Dogs by Andrew Rihn (Winged City Press) Rihn’s collection of political narrative poetry engages the struggles of the working-class/blue collar people of America. Working with both landscape and profiles, Rihn never fails to deliver the hard narratives of ordinary, every day lives.
Here Along Cazenovia Creek by Ruth Thompson (Saddle Road Press) Nature poetry at its best, Thompson explores the world of Western New York (Cazenovia Creek is a real place). Perhaps because I personally know the harsh winters of the Snow Belt, I am even more amazed about how she can make a gentle and lyrical poem from a Buffalo snowfall.
The Scientific Method by Mary Alexandra Agner (Parallel Press) Exploring subjects ranging from the earth to the sky, Agner reviews the scientific world through a feminist lense, giving voices to women scientists including Florence Nightingale, Barbara McClintock, and Caroline Herschel. If you don’t know as much about science history as you should, (and I am placing myself in this category), then you will find yourself googling the women in Agner’s poems, learning about your scientific world through both history and Agner’s poetic praise.
I Stand Here Shredding Documents by Kristin Berkey-Abbott (Finishing Line Press) In her collection, when Berkey-Abbott asks, “How can I be a woman of mystery/when you see the contents of my grocery cart?” she is asking can we find contentment in today’s modern world? And I believe that the answer is yes! Through descriptions of crowded cubicles, boring office meetings, and traffic jams, the narrators in Berkey-Abbott’s world find a spiritual happiness in what many people may consider the most mundane aspects of our world.
Saint Monica by Mary Biddinger (Black Lawrence Press) Through the persona of Saint Monica and set in the Rust Belt Midwest, Biddinger chronicles the dilemmas and desires of today’s women through poems filled with both innocent longing and unflinching violence.
Fat Girl by Jessie Carty (Sibling Rivalry Press) Stripped to their own nakedness, Carty’s poems explore the struggles of us all as we try to fit into our own bodies. My favorite poem is “Fat Girl on Air Travel” where the narrator is a pro at passing through security by traveling with empty pockets and a full backpack, by holding slip-on shoes in her hand, by explaining, “You just want to pass.”
Anchor Glass by Karen Dietrich (Finishing Line Press) Dietrich’s chapbook debut is a respectful homage to little factory towns – especially little factory towns in Pennsylvania. See my complete review of this chapbook here.
Illinois, My Apologies by Justin Hamm (Rocksaw Press) Hamm’s portrayal of a rough and gritty Midwest will make any reader fall in love with the land and the men who toil there. See my complete review here.
The Mill Hunk’s Daughter Meets the Queen of Sky by Lori Jakiela (Finishing Line Press) Jakiela chronicles both her life at a flight attendant along with her relationship with her factory worker father in this collection of stark, narrative poems. My favorite work? In “My Father the Machinist Said” the narrator of the poem bluntly tells his daughter: “See the world. Fly right/Watch out for cockroaches.//Use your brains, princess./Don’t be like me.//Don’t work with your hands.”
Slow to Burn by Collin Kelley (Seven Kitchens Press) Part of Seven Kitchen Press’s Rebound series, Slow to Burn was originally published in 2006 by Metromania Press. Kelley’s slim volume of narrative poetry explore struggle and loss, and ultimately what it takes to unearth our own identities.
Foreclosure Dogs by Andrew Rihn (Winged City Press) Rihn’s collection of political narrative poetry engages the struggles of the working-class/blue collar people of America. Working with both landscape and profiles, Rihn never fails to deliver the hard narratives of ordinary, every day lives.
Here Along Cazenovia Creek by Ruth Thompson (Saddle Road Press) Nature poetry at its best, Thompson explores the world of Western New York (Cazenovia Creek is a real place). Perhaps because I personally know the harsh winters of the Snow Belt, I am even more amazed about how she can make a gentle and lyrical poem from a Buffalo snowfall.
