! BOOKS !

Posted on March 6, 2024March 6, 2024 by Jami Macarty

Welcome back, Gentle Readers, to my dispatches about making and reading books!

I have good, sweet poetry book news to share with you! Good news comes alive and is multiplied when shared!

On March 4, my second manuscript of poetry marched forth into its life as a book when I answered a call from poet and editor Claudia Keelan, who told me 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒕 won the Test Site Poetry Series Prize!

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒕 won the Test Site Poetry Series Prize!

I cried and laughed, and fell to the floor, praising the Poetry Gods. My poet’s heart taking Deer leap and Owl Eagle flight!

My second book will be coming forth in the autumn from the University of Nevada Press! Hurrah! What does this acknowledgment mean to my life as a poet? I have been thinking about how, in part, this acknowledgment gives space to my voice in an expansive poem-making conversation. The conversation with and companionship of other poets is everything.

I bow in the direction of Claudia Keelan and Andrew Nicholson series editors, and the series board editors Sherwin Bitsui, Donald Revell, Sasha Steensen, and Ronaldo Wilson. I admire these writers and love their poems, so to be given their confidence, well, my heart fills with exclamation points!

Interim offers two awards. The Test Site Poetry Series Prize I won and the Betsy Joiner Flanagan Award. Hurrah, parallel good poetry news! Congratulations to the Betsy Joiner Flanagan Winner:

𝑨 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒉, by Geoffrey Babbitt.

Throughout the selection process, my manuscript was in the company of several hundred other poets’ manuscripts. Though some of these poets remain anonymous to me, I acknowledge their word efforts and companionship. To the 12 poets with whom I have spent the last two months as a semi-finalist and then finalist (listed below): I trust I will hold in my hands your books soon, soon! Thank you for your good, sweet company, dear poets.

There is a story about when and how the poems in 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒕 came to words. I will tell you that story in another post. For now, the story sums to two words: Persistence! Perseverance! Between December 2020 and December 2023, I offered this manuscript for consideration 41 times. Persistence! Perseverance!

Persist! Persevere! A writer must!

Persist! Persevere!

Tell me, Gentle Reader, about your life as a writer. Tell me how you persist. Tell me how you persevere. Send your comments below.

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The Pluses!

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to you, dear reader, for the gift of your attention! Welcome, welcome to those of you new to these dispatches on reading and writing books. May you find inspiration for your writer’s life!

+ Thank you bows to my community of women/women-identified writers for their generous, loving support, inspiration, and encouragement.

+ I bow to Claudia Keelan and Andrew Nicholson, series editors, and the series board Sherwin Bitsui, Donald Revell, Sasha Steensen, and Ronaldo Wilson of Interim’s Test Site Poetry Series and the Besty Joiner Flanagan Award in Poetry.

+ I bow to the hardworking editors, publishers, readers, and printers at literary magazines who publish individual poems and who have supported my writing.

+ I bow to the editors who support my reviews and the publications where they were published: Denise Hill at NewPages; Manahil Bandukwala at Canthius; James M. Fisher at The Miramachi Reader, and Jay Ruzesky at The Malahat Review.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to my publisher Stephanie G’Schwind, and Mountain/West Poetry Series editors Donald Revell and Kazim Ali, et al interns at the Center for Literary Publishing (CLP) for making The Minuses (2020) with me.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to Beth Svinarich et al staff at University Press of Colorado for their beautiful support to me and The Minuses.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to monsoon storm chaser and marvelous professional photographer, Liz Kemp, whose monsoon photograph storms the cover of The Minuses.

+ Thank you bows to Nomados Literary Publishers, Meredith and Peter Quartermain for making my chapbook Instinctive Acts with me.

+ Thank you bows to Vallum Chapbook Series and editors Leigh Kotsilidis and Eleni Zisimatos for making my chapbook Mind of Spring with me.

+ Thank you bows to Finishing Line Press and editors Leah Maines and Christen Kinkaid for making my chapbook Landscape of The Wait with me.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to Vincent K. Wong for his friendship, creative collaboration, and for taking my author photos.

+ This bears repeating: Thank you bows (continuous!) to you, dear reader, for the gift of your attention! If you have any questions or comments, write me! I would love to hear from you!

! BOOKS !

Posted on February 5, 2024February 6, 2024 by Jami Macarty

Dear Gentle Reader,

Hello, and may your new year be off to a bright, shiny start! I have been making it a practice to note what shines in each day—sunrise pinking the sky, house sparrows conversing, receiving a postcard from a friend, discovering a long-sought book in a used bookstore, sweet deep purple hyacinths, walking beside bodies of water, sun’s setting mauves—breathing in the color, sound, texture, weight, and scent of the felt world and allowing the world to affect me. I think this sensorial exchange is, in part, what it means to be a writer.

In these first weeks of 2024, my life as a poet, editor, reviewer, and teacher has been alive with possibility and response.

Ocean State Review is currently featuring my poem “Asterisk to What Branches to the Perfect Including,” along with a note on the poem’s collaborative beginnings during the early months of the pandemic. You are cordially invited to read the poem and my note on how the poem came to be.

In January, the manuscript for my second collection of poems was named one of fourteen semifinalists for the Test Site Poetry Series and Besty Joiner Flanagan Award in Poetry. And, on the second day of February, the manuscript was named one of ten finalists for these two prizes! How can I tell you what these acknowledgments mean to the life of this poet? Wings. Lift. Flight.

Once I return to Earth, this acknowledgment hurries me to the page. So, I joined The Stafford Challenge to write a poem a day this year! The Challenge is inspired by William Stafford (1914-1993), who made a practice of crafting a poem daily. Here is one of his poems: “Traveling Through the Dark.” As my newborn poems take their first breaths, I have also been tinkering with the poems in my fourth chapbook, forthcoming from the Vallum Chapbook Series in the summer. I also sent out writing for consideration and received three no-thank-yous. Breathe in and out; that is the process.

As well as write a poem a day this year, I plan to continue #mypersonalBigRead project. I started this project in 2018 to challenge myself to develop a consistent reading practice, trying for a book a day. I read twenty-one books in January.

One of those books was a manuscript of a first novel by a writer dedicated to her writing dreams. What this fiction writer has accomplished is an example of intention and perseverance. During the past three years, this writer and I worked together to bring three short stories to life and then publication. Then, having proved what she could accomplish in short-form fiction, she channeled her momentum into writing a novel. She had carried the idea for that novel in her head for years. It was time. For a year she kept her butt in a chair at her desk and wrote the novel of her dreams. And, in January, I had the pleasure of offering editorial commentary on her five-hundred-page first novel! Our mentoring relationship has been super gratifying, and it has been inspiring to be a part of this writer’s process. Intention and perseverance: Two necessaries for a writer.

As a teacher, I have been planning another iteration of Write, Write, Write, the five-day all-genre writing course designed to get writers writing, offered online at Simon Fraser University. I and the fiction writer above first met in Write, Write, Write. She built momentum by enthusiastically and fully engaging in the course, availing herself of everything the readings and writing practices and I had to offer. Dear writer, you could do the same! Write, Write, Write starts on February 10 and goes until February 14, 2024. Might this five-day course be your writer’s valentine to yourself?

From my teaching and mentoring practices emerges gratification and inspiration. From my reading reviews sometimes emerge. My long-form review of Kate Cayley’s poetry collection Lent (Book*hug, 2023) was published in The Malahat Review Winter Issue #225. In January, I wrote two short-form reviews of poetry chapbooks. My reviews of Maya Clubine’s Life Cycle of a Mayfly (Vallum Chapbook Series, 2023) and Sarah Rosenthal’s We Could Hang a Radical Panel of Light (Drop Leaf Press, 2022) are forthcoming at NewPages.com. So far in February, I have written reviews of Emily Hockaday’s In a Body (Small Harbor Publishing, 2023) and Tina Carlson’s A Guide to Tongue Tie Surgery, two full-length poetry collections. These reviews are also forthcoming at NewPages.com.

From writing emerges, poems, reviews, novels, editing, publications, and invitations. I have accepted an invitation to read at the celebration of the Cascadia Zen: Bioregional Writing on Cascadia Here and Now (Watershed Press, 2023). The reading will take place at Vancouver’s People’s Co-op Books on April 20; I will read my poem from the anthology. I have also agreed to read for Vancouver’s Dead Poets Reading Series in the fall.

I think of my life as a writer as a feast. There is no famine; writing is endlessly giving. I celebrate the times of private conversation between me and the page, the page and the word, the word and language. And, I celebrate when that conversation expands to include magazine editors, book publishers, award judges, fiction writers, poetry writers, and event organizers—the precious-to-me people who respond to what I write, edit, and teach. Hurrah my alive weeks as a poet, editor, reviewer, and teacher!

Tell me about your life as a writer. Tell me, what is shining in your day? Send your comments below.

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The Pluses!

+ Thank you bows to my community of women/women-identified writers for their generous, loving support, inspiration, and encouragement.

+ I bow to the editors and the existence of the anthologies and literary magazines, such as Cascadia Zen: Bioregional Writing on Cascadia Here and Now (Watershed Press, 2023) and The Ocean State Review where I gratefully find support and community.

+ I bow to the editors and the existence of publishers of poetry, such as Interim’s Test Site Poetry Series and the Besty Joiner Flanagan Award in Poetry.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to Beth Svinarich et al staff at University Press of Colorado for their beautiful support to me and The Minuses.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to monsoon storm chaser and marvelous professional photographer, Liz Kemp, whose monsoon photograph storms the cover of The Minuses.

+ Thank you bows to Nomados Literary Publishers, Meredith and Peter Quartermain for making my chapbook Instinctive Acts with me.

+ Thank you bows to Vallum Chapbook Series and editors Leigh Kotsilidis and Eleni Zisimatos for making my chapbook Mind of Spring with me.

+ Thank you bows to Finishing Line Press and editors Leah Maines and Christen Kinkaid for making my chapbook Landscape of The Wait with me.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to Vincent K. Wong for his friendship, creative collaboration, and for taking my author photos.

+ This bears repeating: Thank you bows (continuous!) to you, dear reader, for the gift of your attention! If you have any questions or comments, write me! I would love to hear from you!

! BOOKS !

Posted on December 22, 2023December 22, 2023 by Jami Macarty

Dear Gentle Reader,

Welcome, may you be well, and in these sorrowful days of wars across and the warming of our planet, may you be doing all that you can to care for yourself, your family, and your community.

As Earth’s poles reach maximum tilt away from the Sun, I want to share with you the light I have been basking in this year. The light I refer to is the sparkle and warmth from the connections my writing made with editors, publishers, and readers. It is truly something wild and special for me to contemplate how my dreams of writing manifested from my imagination to words on pages the eyes of readers held. Fireworks blossom in my heart! These connections are ways I am keeping my faith and hope for the future. A future where the destructive impulse is if not eclipsed then matched by the creative impulse.

During this time when open, honest communication seems ever so fragile, easily breaking down, words seeming to fail us, join me and let us celebrate our connection to words, to the expression and connection language makes possible between us. In this dispatch from my writing desk, like others I offered this year on January 27, 2023, April 23, 2023, and June 30, 2023, I focus on making and reading books. The full-length collections and chapbooks of poems I am making, the books other writers have made that I read, and the books I reviewed.

Books, so full of wonder and the possibility of discovery. Books, such portable art objects. O, what they hold! They hold individual poems, reaching out their hands to readers. The book’s provocative cover art illustrates and associates the writing within. Here are the covers of the anthology and literary magazines where my writing found homes in 2023!

Poems from my first and second books, The Minuses and The Long Now Conditions Permit, respectively, along with a poem from a forthcoming chapbook, have been published since my last post. Allow me to share the details of those sparkling occasions with you here.

In October, Vallum 20.2, an all-online issue with the theme “Endings and Beginnings,” featured my poem “Late afternoon autumn, a trembled alternative.” If I am counting accurately, this is the eighth poem of mine since 2015 that Vallum‘s editorial team has selected for publication. Hurrah time eight! For your ears and eyes: Read or listen to me read “Who the Strummer” from 16.1, “Lustrous Fugitive” from 18.1, and “Is Occurring” from 19.1. The Vallum team also selected my chapbook Mind of Spring (no. 22: out of print, but available digitally) as the winner of the 2017 Vallum Chapbook Award. Vallum‘s ongoing support is not about numbers; it is about what those numbers suggest: Vallum‘s ongoing confidence and belief in my writing. That is a gift precious to me. A gift for you: You can read (download, too!) the entire 20.2 issue, chock full of beautiful, lyric, elegiac poems, including excerpts from Vallum‘s latest chapbooks—Wellwater (no. 37), by Karen Solie and Lifecycle of a Mayfly (no. 36), by Maya Clubine—on Vallum‘s website. I am ever grateful to Eleni Zisimatos, Poetry Editor, and T. Liem, Managing Editor for their kind attention and for the Vallum team’s ongoing support of my writing.

Also, in the tenth month, “Equals Rains,” a poem from my first full-length collection The Minuses (Center for Literary Publishing, 2020), came to print in Volume One of Cascadia Zen: Bioregional Writing on Cascadia Here and Now (Watershed Press, 2023). In this anthology, my poem is in conversation with the writing of Vancouver’s Daphne Marlatt, Meredith Quartermain, and Fred Wah, and writers from California, Washington, and Writer’s Heaven, respectively, such as Brenda Hillman, Jane Hirshfield, Tess Gallagher, Joanne Kyger (1934-2017), and Denise Levertov (1923-1997), among others. Writers I love! Writers I am thrilled to share space with. My many thanks to editors Tetsuzen Jason Wirth, Paul E. Nelson, Adelia MacWilliam, and Theresa Whitehill for including my writing in this beautiful book!

In November, Colorado Review 50.3 | Fall/Winter issue featured “From Hill’s Slant,” another poem from my second full-length collection, The Long Now Conditions Permit. This is a special accomplishment because I have wanted to be published by Colorado Review for a long time. I persisted and kept sending them poem batches. I love the feeling of my persistence meeting their “yes.” Gleefully, “From Hill’s Slant” rubs shoulders with the writing of Cole Swensen, John Gallaher, and Brandon Krieg, among other writers I admire. I am grateful to Matthew Cooperman, Editor, and Lauren Furman, Managing Editor for their time and care with my poem.

And, in this twelfth month, Laurel Review 56.1 features my poem “For L,” an elegy for my friend and poet, the late Lusia Slomkowska (1954-2014). I have in mind that this poem will gather together in a chapbook with some other elegies I have written. By sweet confluence, “For L” shares space in this issue of Laurel Review with a poem by Matthew Cooperman, Poetry Editor of Colorado Review (above), where my poem shares space with John Gallaher, Poetry Editor of Laurel Review. Hurrah, these connections, these stitched-together shapes and patterns in the great quilt or poetry! Hurrah the good company of these readers, writers, and editors in my Writing Practice!

Now, to share a bit about this year’s Reading Practice. Since 2018, I have been conducting a year-long reading extravaganza with a simple goal: To see how many books I can read. I wrote about the discoveries from previous years of #mypersonalBigRead in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. This project is a sort of numbers game, though I do not read just to rack them up. I maintain my integrity while reading books I have always wanted to read, books I have been coveting from my once extra-to-the-bookshelves, towering, and now mostly shelved stacks, books recommended to me, books I am invited to consider for review, classic and hot-off-the-presses books, books that appear as if by mysticism in the field of my attention.

This year marks the sixth year I have challenged myself in #mypersonalBigRead. Each year has had a different personality—from 2018’s beginning excitement to 2020’s trouble concentrating to 2022’s grounded breadth. 2023 has been the most personal, intimate reading year. I have read more of what I most wanted to read, more slowly, savoring, and I have read everything I could get my eyes on by the poets Jane Hirshfield, Joanne Kyger (1934-2017), Sharon Olds, Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), and C.D. Wright (1949-2016). That deep reading and study expanded my thinking about language’s possibilities and bolstered my writing of poems and reviews.

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While some years I reached a tally of over three hundred titles, so far this year I am at two hundred twenty. Of those books, I have reviewed one chapbook (for Amazon), one mixed-genre book, and twenty poetry collections. The reviews of the poetry and mixed-genre books found homes in Canthius, The Malahat Review, The Miramichi Reader, NewPages, and Vallum.

How do you decide which books you will read? Might a review pique your interest? Consider yourself most cordially invited to read my reviews as a way to consider whether or not you would like to add any of those books to your reading list. The links to those reviews can be found on the Poet page (scroll a bit) on this (my) site.

If dear Reader, you have read to this next word: “amazing,” then thank you! I am thrilled by and grateful for your attention. And, I hope what you have read inspires you in your writing, publishing, and reading endeavors.

Read! Write! Persist in and with words!

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The Pluses!

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to you, dear reader, for the gift of your attention! Welcome, those new here. May you find inspiration!

+ Thank you bows to my community of women/women-identified writers for their generous, loving support, inspiration, and encouragement.

+ I bow to the editors and existence of the anthologies and literary magazines Cascadia Zen, Vallum, Colorado Review, Laurel Review, Puerto del Sol, The Ocean State Review, where I gratefully find support and community.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to Beth Svinarich et al staff at University Press of Colorado for their beautiful support to me and The Minuses.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to monsoon storm chaser and marvelous professional photographer, Liz Kemp, whose monsoon photograph storms the cover of The Minuses.

+ Thank you bows to Nomados Literary Publishers, Meredith and Peter Quartermain for making my chapbook Instinctive Acts with me.

+ Thank you bows to Vallum Chapbook Series and editors Leigh Kotsilidis and Eleni Zisimatos for making my chapbook Mind of Spring with me.

+ Thank you bows to Finishing Line Press and editors Leah Maines and Christen Kinkaid for making my chapbook Landscape of The Wait with me.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to Vincent K. Wong for his friendship, creative collaboration, and for taking my author photos.

+ This bears repeating: Thank you bows (continuous!) to you, dear reader, for the gift of your attention! If you have any questions or comments, write me! I would love to hear from you!

! BOOKS !

Posted on July 1, 2023December 21, 2023 by Jami Macarty

Dear Reader, Hello! May your summer days be just the sort of days of your dreams.

I am luxuriating daily in long river walks, deep writing sits, and comfy-chair reading spells—three necessities to sustain my writing practice. Sharing candid conversations, getting good rest, and eating nutritious food contribute, too!

As the months of 2023 roll on, reviews and poems get written and revised, then go out, offering themselves to editors. Some get returned, and when a writer is lucky, some get accepted for publication. Then, there’s the lovely anticipation of soon seeing the writing in print.

*The* *Ocean State Review,* Vol. 12 No. 1, front & back covers; cover art by Igor Moritz

June marked the publication of “Asterisk to What Branches in the Perfect Including” in The Ocean State Review. This poem was written in March and April 2020, the early days and weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, it has been tinkered with, tweaked, torqued and such since then, and up until the day in September 2022 I sent it to The Ocean State Review for consideration. Perhaps one of the things the poem is attempting is a real-time record to understand the great strangeness of everyone at home and nothing public open.

“These odd, slow, own hours”
-from “Asterisk in the Perfect Including,” by Jami Macarty

“Asterisk in the Perfect Including” is a long poem, spanning five pages. Long poems can be tricky to place in literary magazines. So, I am extra thrilled Charles Kell, Editor gave the poem space in The Ocean State Review Volume 12, No. 1. Plus, scroll the back cover (above) for the writers whose company I am lucky to be keeping—Devon Balwit, Rick Barot, Lindsay Turner, Sean Thomas Dougherty, Joseph Lease, Jesse Lee Kercheval, et al!

*The* *Ocean State Review,* Vol. 12 No. 1, magazine’s front cover & poem’s first page

To whet your reading appetite, above is the poem’s first page. To read the rest of my poem and the writing of the other marvelous writers, order your very own copy of The Ocean State Review. In doing so, you would be supporting me, the other writers—one or two who may change your life—as well as the life of a vibrant literary magazine—all that for $12! Seriously, we would be ever grateful for your readership and support. If you purchase a copy, let me know and I will send you a treat.

What’s next for this poem? Stay tuned here! The Ocean State Review plans to feature the poem along with an interview with me on their website sometime in the future. So, hurrah this poem! I am grateful to Charles Kell, Editor for his attention to my writing.

Other what’s nexts for the poem. At the moment, I am of the mind that it, along with two other long poems, will reside in a fourth chapbook I have planned. But, who knows? The poem may have other ideas about where it will live. You know how poems can be!

When I know more, I will be sure to share the information here. In the meantime, I will be writing new poems and reviews to share with you. And, later in the month I will be attending Napa Valley Writers’ Conference to bask in the company of writers, take classes with Ilya Kaminsky, and admire the straight rows of grapes.

Until soon, take best care. Read! Write! Persist!

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The Pluses!

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to you, dear reader, for the gift of your attention!

+ Thank you bows to my community of women/women-identified writers for their generous, loving support, inspiration, and encouragement.

+ Thank you bows to Charles Kell, Editor et al at The Ocean State Review for their support of and confidence in my poem.

+ I bow to the existence of The Ocean State Review, where I find community.

+ I bow to the editors who support my reviews and the publications where they were published: Denise Hill at NewPages; Manahil Bandukwala at Canthius; James M. Fisher at The Miramachi Reader.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to my publisher Stephanie G’Schwind, and Mountain West Poetry Series editors Donald Revell and Kazim Ali, et al interns at the Center for Literary Publishing (CLP) for making The Minuses (2020) with me.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to Beth Svinarich et al at University Press of Colorado for their beautiful support to me and The Minuses.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to monsoon storm chaser and marvelous professional photographer, Liz Kemp whose monsoon photograph storms the cover of The Minuses.

+ Thank you bows to Nomados Literary Publishers, Meredith and Peter Quartermain for making my chapbook Instinctive Acts with me.

+ Thank you bows to Vallum Chapbook Series and editors Leigh Kotsilidis and Eleni Zisimatos for making my chapbook Mind of Spring with me.

+ Thank you bows to Finishing Line Press and editors Leah Maines and Christen Kinkaid for making my chapbook Landscape of The Wait with me.

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to Vincent K. Wong for his friendship, creative collaboration, and for taking my author photos.

+ This bears repeating: Thank you bows (continuous!) to you, dear reader, for the gift of your attention! If you have any questions or comments, write me! I would love to hear from you!

! BOOKS !

Posted on April 17, 2023April 18, 2023 by Jami Macarty

Happy Poetry Month!

One of the gifts of this month is the image of my book covers above bestowed on me by a constant supporter of my word-work; thank you, JRW! I love seeing the covers accumulating and conversing.

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Dear Reader, I am popping in to share with you publishing news and poetry reviews.

Three poems from The Long Now Conditions Permit, my second manuscript of poetry seeking a beloved publisher, are included in the Spring 2023 Puerto del Sol.

Whoo hoo!

Amplifying the publication of these three poems: I am now included in the community of the long-running literary magazine Puerto del Sol, who “seek work that presents authenticity, sincerity, and respect,” and I have the good company of poets Cedar Sigo, Jess Turner, John Gallaher, Maureen Thorson, and Vi Khi Nao et al in this issue. Hurrah!

Above, a collage that offers you excerpts of my poems “Watching Fall Which Leaf,” “Winter’s Change of Self,” and “Following What Searches.” It is my poetry hope that you will support Puerto del Sol, their staff, and the writers they publish by ordering the issue. Happy reading!

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While I am here, I want to let you know that I have been continuing my reviewing practice. Three reviews of poetry collections are forthcoming this month. In The Miramichi Reader my review of Entre Rive and Shore (icehouse poetry, 2023), by Dominique Bernier-Cormier; in NewPages my review of Disbound (University of Iowa Press, 2022), by Hajar Hussaini; in Canthius my review of Trinity Street (Anansi Books, 2023), by Jen Currin. Look for them! You know, just in case you are looking for more poetry to read… Plus, I would love to know what you think of the books and my reviews of them. Happy Reading!

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The Pluses!

+ Thank you bows (continuous!) to you, dear reader, for the gift of your attention!

+ Thank you bows to my community of women/women-identified writers for their generous, loving support, inspiration, and encouragement.

+ Thank you bows to Richard Greenfield, Editor-in-Chief, Shane Inman, Managing Editor, and Anthony Gabriel, Poetry Editor, et al at Puerto del Sol for their support of and confidence in my poems.

+ I bow to the existence of Puerto del Sol, where I find community.