MOTEL OF THE OPPOSABLE THUMBS by Stuart Ross Review by Bill Neumire A replete, grassroots career precedes Stuart Ross’ most recent book of poems, Motel of the Opposable Thumbs, out from Anvil Press. Ross, who first published at age sixteen, has been a player in the Canadian literary scene since the ‘70s. Set in five […]
THE FOOL by Jessie Jones | Review by Bill Neumire
THE FOOL by Jessie Jones Review by Bill Neumire The fool’s manifestation in Jessie Jones’s debut full-length poetry collection comes as the speaker centers herself as an isolated sovereign, as an I fortifying itself against the world, which comes out at times as lonely, and at times as powerfully self-confident. According to the book cover, […]
PHILLIS by Alison Clarke | Review by Bill Neumire
PHILLIS by Alison Clarke Review by Bill Neumire In 1773 with her book Poems on Various Subjects, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American to publish a book of poetry. Hailed from New England to England as “the African Genius,” Wheatley, who was a slave, led a complex spiritual, aesthetic, and intellectual life, inspiring generations […]
THE OUTER WARDS by Sadiqa de Meijer | Review by Bill Neumire
The Outer Wards by Sadiqa de Meijer (Montreal, QC: Signal Editions, 2020, $17.95, 88 pages) Review by Bill Neumire A hospital room, a distance from a city center, a defended outer enclosure—a ward is a removal. But then, of course, a ward is also a person in your care and charge. The Outer Wards, Sadiqa […]
THE MINUSES by Jami Macarty | Review by Bill Neumire
The Minuses by Jami Macarty (Fort Collins, CO: The Center for Literary Publishing, 2020, $16.95, 92 pages) Review by Bill Neumire According to Jami Macarty, “Even when there’s a minus—a dear one dies—life keeps living itself. This is the ethos informing the poems of The Minuses.” Macarty’s debut full-length poetry collection hovers through a prepositional […]