When I Was a Child Even while I was in the womb, I had a dream,that, at my appearance, daylight would not cease,that darkness would not be a climate to lingerwherever I was going to place my feet.I dreamed that stars formed a long queue,and at my entrance bow their heads like trees;let me walk…
Golden Armor: A book review by Kashiana Singh Golden Armor (Transcendent Zero Press, 2025), a poetry collection by Armenida Qyqja In the editorial framing of this collection, the image of Pallas Athena, born fully formed and war-ready from the head of Zeus, serves as an entry point for understanding the emotional and symbolic registers of…
Mermet Springs, Illinois In Little Egypt, near Cairo, Thebes, and Karnak,Straight along Highway 57 south,Along the current’s misgiving switchbackWhere the river is wider than at the delta’s mouth,In an old stone pit, we’ve sunk our culture’s wrecks:A coal car, airplane, pick-up truck, the scrapAnd waste of someone’s dreams, life, foregone projects.Our lives’ ends fit so…
Alternate Perspectives For instance, that a graveyard is a gardentoo, which, though seeming still, careers through spaceon a great round spheroid ship squashed in at poleswith flaws, dents, bumps, like an uncultured pearl,a natural jewel. And when a soul’s turned init fertilizes futures with more carbonand sand to make more pearl, emerald, diamond.Or that Earth’s…
Two poems translated from the Chinese by the poet A Man Carrying a Pane of Glass A man walks carrying a pane of glass on the road with the sharp, rough edge wrapped in newspaper that screens his upper body, thinking himself invisible to others. His upper half appears flat through the glass, making it different from carrying a…
Two poems translated from Portuguese by the poet It Took Me a Long Time to Penetrate this Forest It took me a long time to penetrate this forest—youth knows neither invitation nor prudence.I followed the trailwith innocence in my eyes,with curiosity in my soul,as my body was magnetized.I crossed green cathedralsand gave myself to a…
Two poems by Anatoliy Anatoliy, translated from Ukrainian by Olena O’Lear Look, There’s on the Skyline the Smother Look, there’s on the skyline the smother —but we did not choose it, my brother.The dragon’s dark ages and yearswere forging both shackles and spears;from all the unovercome races,they chose us in their cruel chases.And what will…
Diamonds and Rust: A Book Review by Candice Louisa Daquin Diamonds & Rust (Toad Press, 2025), a Chapbook by Catalina Vergara, Translated by Tiffany Troy Diamonds & Rust is in English and Spanish on facing pages, and the books subject matter, as mentioned by the translator, is: “inspired by themes of love and memory in…
A Mouth Full of Salt: A Book Review by Candice Louisa Daquin A Mouth Full of Salt, a Novel by Reem Gaafar (Invisible Publishing, 2025) Gaafar’s debut novel begins with the search for a missing boy in the village, presumed drowned in the Nile. Having spent much time by the Nile as a child of…
To Sylvia: A Book Review by Candice Lousia Daquin To Sylvia, a Poetry Collection by Anushka Mitra (WissenMonk Publications, 2025) In this slim volume of poetry influenced by its eponymous heroine, poet Anushka Mitra directly questions the very subjects Sylvia Plath did, through an echo refrain of Plath’s considerations and Anushka’s own forthright way of…
& You Think It Ends: A Book Review by Nancy Murphy & You Think It Ends, a Poetry Collection by Amy Small-McKinney (Glass Lyre Press, 2025) & You Think It Ends (Glass Lyre Press), the latest full length poetry collection from Amy Small-McKinney, astounds in its fierceness. The title of this book reads almost like…
Everything in Life is Resurrection: A Book Review by Tiffany Troy Everything in Life is Resurrection (TCU Press, 2025), a Poetry Collection by Cyrus Cassells Everything in Life is Resurrection, like Cyrus Cassells’s poetry, subverts the reader’s expectation by beginning in reverse chronological order. It traces the trajectory of Cassells’s collections from The World That…
