Sacred Mire and the Cutting Edge of Anti-: Tawahum Bige’s _Cut to Fortress_
(Review published here in The Rumpus, May 2025) In the opening poem “Origin” from their debut poetry collection, Cut to Fortress, indigenous activist poet Tawahum Bige asks “Where is the green inside me?” They realize they cannot go back to their sacred connection with earth due to “eroding landfill / lifestyles.” They instead desire “sacred…
On Kweku Abimbola’s _Saltwater Demands a Psalm_
This review is not online… “On Kweku Abimbola’s Saltwater Demands a Psalm in Seneca Review, Volume 55, No. 1, spring 2025, pp. 145-151
Sustaining the Sense of Beginning, a Review of Devon Walker-Figueroa’s Philomath
(Review published here in North American Review, February 2025) In “Next to Nothing,” near the end of her worthwhile debut poetry collection, Philomath, Devon Walker-Figueroa writes, “I have tried to preserve the sense / of beginning.” At face value, her objective—the “sense” (i.e., this feeling) of something new and creative—resists being preserved since this…
A Palestinian Voice in Gaza, A Review of Mosab Abu Toha’s “Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear”
(Review published here in The Rumpus, March 2024) Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha’s first poetry collection, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear (City Lights Books: San Francisco, California, 2022), published a year before the overwhelming violence begun in early October 2023, touches upon a range of Toha’s and fellow Palestinian’s memories and daily…
As with Vigor, As with Pain, a Review of Lara Egger’s “How to Love Everyone and Almost Get Away with It”
(Review published here in The Rumpus, July 2023) Richard Hugo in his seminal essay “The Triggering Town” writes, “Most poets write the same poem over and over. Wallace Stevens was honest enough not to try to hide it. Frost’s statement that he tried to make every poem as different as possible from the last one…
Review of Akwaeke Emezi’s Content Warning: Everything
(Review published here in Colorado Review, July 2023) At one point in their debut poetry book, Content Warning: Everything, New York Times best-selling author Akwaeke Emezi (they/them) is “a ragtag doll / scraps from men or places where I left myself / even when my pieces were taken…” By the end of this poem…
Through Our Water Like Fingers, a Review of Millicent Borges Accardi’s “Quarantine Highway”
(Review published here in South 85 Journal, July 2023) Ideological, sentimental, or unfocused urgency are just some of the challenges to overcome when creating poetry about a collective tragedy, especially when writing in the midst of it. After three years into the coronavirus pandemic, Millicent Borges Accardi’s fourth book, Quarantine Highway, is one such poetry…
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Robert Manaster 