Book Reviews | Tarpaulin Sky Magazine
TELLING YOU WHAT TO THINK SINCE 2003 | IMAGE: NOAH SATERSTROM
Book Reviews | Tarpaulin Sky Magazine
TELLING YOU WHAT TO THINK SINCE 2003 | IMAGE: NOAH SATERSTROM
Elizabeth Robinson’s Counterpart reviewed by Holly Simonsen
"Robinson gives us a hell as reflective as the sea, and a golem as innocent as the night we surrender to. Such that her question might be framed, how does one carve a shapeless mass into the creature behind the mirror? Rather than reduce this mystery to a simple binary, Robinson deconstructs the notion of otherness and highlights the nagging presence of that which we label other. Neither side is exalted nor debased for its mystery or morality. As ambitious and slippery as the questions that guide the book, Robinson’s language follows suit. Words become shadows of themselves; white space heeds to the meditative echo of her lines...."
Lara Glenum’s Pop Corpse reviewed by David B. Applegate
"Teenagers are the ideal audience for this book. Muddled sexuality, self-harm, becoming an individual and artist; the themes and confusions present throughout speak to forming consciousness and would undoubtedly resonate with young readers. Send a copy to your local high school's library."
Shira Dentz’s door of thin skins reviewed by Brenda Sieczkowski
"One of the most striking and compelling features in door of thin skins is Dentz’s ingenious re-patterning of language into “jumbles” that are anything but random, anything but involuntary. One interpretation: symptom. A truer interpretation: poetry. In the fracture of language, Dentz opens the door to brilliant possibility, activating recombinatory arrangements of striking power and beauty."
Michael Begnal’s Future Blues reviewed by Billy Mills
"A fascinating book that foregrounds one of the main questions to confront younger Irish poets; what does it mean to self-identify as Irish in an increasingly globalised world and in a time when many of those poets will not live, or will only partly live, in Ireland itself?"
Vanessa Place interviewed by Eireene Nealand
After talking with former prisoners about how beside-the-point their presence in court felt; after being called up and not selected for jury duty; after wondering about the metaphysics of court trials Eireene Nealand wrote to Vanessa Place, a poet and defense appellate attorney, who specializes in sexual offense cases.
Marie Calloway’s what purpose did i serve in your life reviewed by Carina Finn
"Much in the same way that the girl on her knees getting facefucked is running the entire show, Marie applies the rules of BDSM to the author-reader relationship in what purpose did i serve in your life. You can call her a whore, sure, but that’s exactly what she wanted you to do."
Elizabeth Robinson’s Counterpart reviewed by Holly Simonsen
"Robinson gives us a hell as reflective as the sea, and a golem as innocent as the night we surrender to. Such that her question might be framed, how does one carve a shapeless mass into the creature behind the mirror? Rather than reduce this mystery to a simple binary, Robinson deconstructs the notion of otherness and highlights the nagging presence of that which we label other. Neither side is exalted nor debased for its mystery or morality. As ambitious and slippery as the questions that guide the book, Robinson’s language follows suit. Words become shadows of themselves; white space heeds to the meditative echo of her lines...."
Lara Glenum’s Pop Corpse reviewed by David B. Applegate
"Teenagers are the ideal audience for this book. Muddled sexuality, self-harm, becoming an individual and artist; the themes and confusions present throughout speak to forming consciousness and would undoubtedly resonate with young readers. Send a copy to your local high school's library."
Shira Dentz’s door of thin skins reviewed by Brenda Sieczkowski
"One of the most striking and compelling features in door of thin skins is Dentz’s ingenious re-patterning of language into “jumbles” that are anything but random, anything but involuntary. One interpretation: symptom. A truer interpretation: poetry. In the fracture of language, Dentz opens the door to brilliant possibility, activating recombinatory arrangements of striking power and beauty."
Michael Begnal’s Future Blues reviewed by Billy Mills
"A fascinating book that foregrounds one of the main questions to confront younger Irish poets; what does it mean to self-identify as Irish in an increasingly globalised world and in a time when many of those poets will not live, or will only partly live, in Ireland itself?"
Vanessa Place interviewed by Eireene Nealand
After talking with former prisoners about how beside-the-point their presence in court felt; after being called up and not selected for jury duty; after wondering about the metaphysics of court trials Eireene Nealand wrote to Vanessa Place, a poet and defense appellate attorney, who specializes in sexual offense cases.
Marie Calloway’s what purpose did i serve in your life reviewed by Carina Finn
"Much in the same way that the girl on her knees getting facefucked is running the entire show, Marie applies the rules of BDSM to the author-reader relationship in what purpose did i serve in your life. You can call her a whore, sure, but that’s exactly what she wanted you to do."