Showcasing these during the #ReadIndies event, hosted by Kaggsy and Lizzy, is ideal: the compilations themselves embody the value of indie presses, but they also draw from the best work published by other small, independent publishers—journals and magazines. In the back of each of these volumes is a list
With this story from Old Babes in the Wood, I read “Our Cat Goes to Heaven”, from Brick Magazine 2004 (“Puss ‘n Heaven” in Issue 73’s table of contents). Each has funny moments but, of course, the stories revolve around the loss of a companion, so they are preoccupied
Poetry is a place into which we can disappear from pain. In these collections, there are many other themes explored, but these passages intertwined like threads through my reading. In “A Toothless Crackhead Was the Mascot” from Reginald Dwayne Betts’ Bastards of the Reagan Era (2015): “This begins the concept
In the coming year, I don’t know if I will read so many collections or spend time with so many illustrations, but I have enjoyed my 2022 reading so far (partially discussed last week, here). Ai Qing’s Selected Poems (2021), translated by Robert Dorsett, are “characterized by his sincerity, a
Earlier this year, I resolved to take a closer look at the graphic novels and poetry collections accumulating on my library “saved lists” and my digital TBR “shelves”. Those lists have lengthened rather than shortened, but there’s been plenty of good reading along the way. In Just So Happens by
