Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Your heart is beating, isn’t it? You’re not in chains, are you?”

Felicity by Mary Oliver

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This is one of those books I never would have picked up on my own, so thanks, Read Harder, for doing your job. I do not read much poetry at all, and that is because some that I have read in the past has been pretentious as hell or impenetrable, or both, but even when it hasn’t been, my favorite thing about reading is narrative, and most poetry doesn’t have that, so. I’d just rather spend my reading time on novels, and the very occasional […]

How one poet is finding his way

Forgive Yourself These Tiny Acts of Self-Destruction by Jared Singer

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Forgive Yourself These Tiny Acts of Self-Destruction has strong imagry. Jared Singer evokes great feelings with each poem. Perhaps you are not familiar with the subjects (nothaving experienced them personally) but they will speak to you. Perhaps you do not understand what you are feeling or even why you are feeling what you are feeling, but you will feel something. Just not something I can tell you what it might be.  A poem that touched me might not you and of course, the reverse is […]

“i’m pretty sure you have s t a r d u s t running through those v e i n s. – women are some kind of magic.”

The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace

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In my review of Crimes of the Heart I took a potshot at Poetry as a genre, mostly because it has had a high barrier of entry to me in the past (graphic novels/comics has been my other major hurdle) but in fairness I have gotten better at finding poetry that works for me in at least part due to all the reading challenges I do that require poetry. In 2018 I read two collections I quite enjoyed, No Matter the Wreckage and Depression & […]

“I am a museum of art but you had your eyes shut”

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

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Official book description: milk and honey is a collection of poetry about love loss trauma abuse healing and femininity it is split into four chapters each chapter serves a different purpose deals with a different pain heals a different heartache milk and honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in the life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look Poetry is just one of those genres I don’t really read, at […]

Always a question Bigger than itself

Duende by Tracy K Smith

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If we’re directly translating the word duende, it comes up something like a “quality of passion and inspiration” and in that sense, a collection of poems is the perfect vehicle express this idea. There’s a secondary definition of a “spirit” which also works. So when I think about these terms, what comes to mind for me is something ineffable and non-representable, in the sense of a kind Lyotard understanding of representation. So what do you capture then when you write a poem about something completely […]

Snow books to cozy up with

Snow Globe Wishes by Erin Dealey

Snow Much Fun! by Nancy Siscoe

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Regardless if it is snowing or not, this time of year I see and occasionally want to read, books about snow. And because it is that time of year, there are all types of books that fit the bill. But two new ones I found recently was, Snow Globe Wishes and Snow Much Fun! Both books are adorable looking but fell a little short for my personal enjoyment. However, I know that there are several people out there who are looking for these exact two […]



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