States of Motion
States of Motion, by Laura Hulthen Thomas. Wayne State University Press, May 2017. $19, 304 pages.
Laura Hulthen Thomas displays a wide range of skills in the haunting stories that comprise her debut collection, States of Motion, …
Sirens
During the weeklong first-year orientation activities at the University of Nairobi, freshers are constantly reminded that this university is the best university in Africa, south of the Sahara and north of the Limpopo. This phrase is used to confirm the …
Everything We Don’t Know
Everything We Don’t Know, by Aaron Gilbreath. Curbside Splendor, 2016. 312 pages, $17.
In this era of random and useless information competing for a reader’s attention, the long-form essay can be a welcome respite. Blurring the distinctions between essay …
Portrait of an Empty House
1.
The house pulls itself apart from the inside out, strips itself of its own meaning. It vomits pots and pans, flatscreen TVs and sport coats, books, tools from the garage; bleeds family pictures and paintings by George’s father; weeps …
Sonora
Sonora, by Hannah Lillith Assadi. SOHO Press, 2017. $16, 208 pages.
Hannah Lillith Assadi’s debut novel, Sonora, is a kaleidoscopic venture for the senses. Like a video montage set to the timber of desert wind …
My Life with Private Equity
I wake up and stumble into the bathroom,
tear off a few sheets of toilet paper produced by a private equity firm.
I pour a fresh glass of water provided by private equity.
Private equity wants to know who I’ll …
The Absolute Gravedigger
The Absolute Gravedigger, by Vítězslav Nezval. Translated from the Czech by Stephan Delbos and Tereza Novická. Twisted Spoon Press, October 2016. $23, 214 pages.
Vítězslav Nezval (1900-1958) dreamt of changelings; he saw mutations where others saw stability. Square-faced and …
Rigging a Chevy into a Time Machine and Other Ways to Escape a Plague: An Interview with Carolyn Hembree
Carolyn Hembree was born in Bristol, Tennessee. Her debut poetry collection, Skinny, came out from Kore Press in 2012. In 2016, Trio House Books published her second collection, Rigging a Chevy into a Time Machine and Other Ways to …
Four Psalms
The Lord is my shambles; I shall not wait.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastimes: he leadeth me inhale the still’s vapors.
3 He retorteth my soul: he luggeth me over the paths of righteous indignation …
Love Is a Stone Endlessly in Flight: A Correspondence with Dante Di Stefano
What follows is a series of short letters written back and forth with Dante Di Stefano, whose poetry collection, Love Is a Stone Endlessly in Flight, was released in 2016 by Brighthorse Books. Dante and I met at Binghamton …