Yucca Valley
Light dissolves on the outskirts of town where the trees are mostly their arms, devoid of reason in a strange dream. What hides in itself in the desert? I…
whose evacuation
the neighbors build on the brink of forest, in a few months, the house could be done or gone. watch from the field as they pour foundation concrete, then…
I was saying lily pads float without roots
after Eric Baus I was saying lily pads float without roots and my son notes I’m explaining things I don’t know he laughs and I sense ++++a…
Roar and Prayer: American Elegies: The World That the Shooter Left Us by Cyrus Cassells and Headless John the Baptist Hitchhiking by C.T. Salazar
Two recent collections from queer poets of color put into stark relief the challenges and cruelties of contemporary America. Both collections are elegiac, though in formally different ways. Cyrus…
When the Museum Is a Mirror: Tenderness by Derrick Austin
Tenderness by Derrick Austin (BOA Editions, 2021). A funny thing about reviewing a book that’s been out for a while is whether and to what extent to consider…
The Natural Plot of Existence: The Red Zone: A Love Story by Chloe Caldwell
The Red Zone: A Love Story by Chloe Caldwell (Soft Skull Press, 2022). When Chloe Caldwell entered her thirties, she was already known for writing three books chronicling…
Telling the Right Story: Survivor’s Guilt: Essays on Race and American Identity by Artress Bethany White
Survivor’s Guilt: Essays on Race and American Identity by Artress Bethany White (New Rivers Press, 2022). Early in Survivor’s Guilt: Essays on Race and American Identity, Artress Bethany…
The Other Osama
He was born with a silver knife in his mouth. And he was its first victim. —Osama Alomar Inside, the shop was limewashed and long enough to fit…
The Bar at the End of the World
The local news, projected to the bar by way of their staticky, cafeteria tray–sized TV, warned of severe storm conditions, possible flash flooding. That afternoon, the odd car that…