Sean Moeller’s debut poetry collection Plain Clothes Hamburglar (Rejection Letters Press) is a tightly compressed collection of vignettes that are laden with beat, location and nostalgia to create an anthemic volume of poems that, despite their playful dressing, ask to be taken seriously. Divided into sections by ingredients in a hamburger (bun, pickles and onions, […]
Local book reviews
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Book Review: ‘Optional Saint’ by Kelsi Vanada
Kelsi Vanada’s Optional Saint (Bench Editions) is a delicate collage of poetic styles that maintain a signature sparseness of language — the poems ask the reader to connect the dots. What’s interesting and exciting about Vanada’s poetry is that she trusts the reader and invites the reader to become part of the narrative. With brevity, […]
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Book Review: ‘Mojave Ghost’ by Forrest Gander
I read about one book of poetry a year. I enjoy poetry now, despite an adolescence spent being intimidated by it. I am thrilled that Mojave Ghost by Forrest Gander (New Directions) became my poetry book of the year. Structured with page breaks and asterisks but no formal titles, he creates something that flows effortlessly […]
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Book Review: ‘Green for Luck’ by Margaret Yapp
Margaret Yapp’s Green For Luck (Eastover Press) is a refreshing shock to the senses. Every page asks the reader to unlearn their expectations. I hear all the time that readers want to be surprised — I even tell my own students that — but it’s been a long time since I experienced it. In Green […]
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Book Review: ‘Blue Light Hours’ by Bruna Dantas Lobato
I was a daughter who left her mother. This is a fairly common experience, from my understanding of the world, many children leave their parents, either to move down the street or across the country. My act of leaving was comparatively short in distance but long in duration, as I packed my suitcase once and […]
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Book Review: ‘Far From Broken’ by Kelsey Bigelow
According to the back of the book, Kelsey Bigelow’s Far From Broken (2024) collection is “an expansion of her spoken word album Depression Holders and Secret Keepers” which was released in advance of the book. I haven’t heard Bigelow’s work aloud, but I can say that there were several poems which seemed so clearly meant […]
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Book Review: ‘Disturbing the Bones’ by Andrew Davis and Jeff Biggers
As a teenager, Dan Brown changed my brain chemistry. My obsession with his books grew from my more youthful, and more naive, obsession with Indiana Jones — back before I understood that cultural artifacts should probably stay with their culture of origin. Dan Brown made me feel sophisticated and smart, creating an affection for political […]
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Book Review: ‘My Lady Melisende’ by Misty Urban
There is a special type of book that I affectionately refer to as the “kettle corn book.” Growing up, there was no food that my stepmom could eat more of than kettle corn. It was simultaneously awing and terrifying how much of it she could put away without thinking about it. A good kettle corn […]
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Book Review: ‘Hot Dreams’ by Rachelle Chase
Seasoned authors know that the best way to get readers invested in their characters is to make them as relatable as possible. Highlighting the flaws of central figures is essential in creating a story that sticks with readers long after the last page. Romance author (and Iowa native) Rachelle Chase accomplishes just that in Hot […]
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Book Review: ‘The Wilderlands’ by R.E. Bellesmith
I have apparently never read fantasy before The Wilderlands by R.E. Bellesmith (November 2024). I didn’t know that. I thought the various books I read involving magic and the like were fantasy. Apparently there are levels. For folks like me who see themselves more often reading literary fiction, I hope this review will act as […]
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Book Review: ‘The Monsters We Make’ by Kali White
I grew up in the era of stranger danger. I was a generally anxious child even on my best days, a veritable nightmare on my worst; my family loves to tell the story of my weeping refusal to approach Santa Claus at a school event, unable to recognize the costumed man as my own father.
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Book Review: Ben Miller — ‘Pandemonium Logs’
We don’t talk about the tolls the pandemic has taken on each of us. In Ben Miller’s new book Pandemonium Logs: Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 2020-2022 (Rutgers University Press, November 2024) he says the quiet part aloud.
