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Lit Pub Raves about Hazen's Girls Like Us in New Review Hazen's opus gets a well-deserved lauding from rising literary star Nandini Bhattacharya. Read the Full Review Buy Girls Like Us More from Bhattacharya October 2020 was a tough time to release a book. In fact, next to August 1929 and February 2007, October 2020 might have been the worst time to release a book in modern history. Fortunately for Elizabeth Hazen, Girls Like Us has seemed to find staying power in the minds of critics. Nandini Bhattacharya's new review of the collection sheds special light on the skill and … [Read more...]

An introduction to Rita Dove by Grace Cavalieri In a stunning video, Grace covers the life and work of the first female of color US Poet Laureate "If critics look at a literary model of a balanced life, the thinking, feeling, sensual, and intuitive, this can be seen as a template for Rita Dove’s writing." Grace Cavalieri's new web series "20th-Century Poets Commentaries" is off to a strong start with introductions and commentaries on such poets as Robert Hayden, Ted Kooser, Robert Pinsky, and Josephine Jacobsen. Rita Dove, the first female of color to hold the vaunted position of US … [Read more...]

Maryland Lit Review Publishes new Essay by James J. Patterson Nathan Leslie's excellent Maryland Literary Review publishes James J. Patterson's new essay "Hermes at the Spouter Inn" Read the full essay in the Maryland Literary Review Buy James J. Patterson's first book of essays "Bermuda Shorts" Hermes is back in this new personal essay by Bermuda Shorts author James J. Patterson. This time the trickster god dons the countenance of a voluble stranger at the Spouter Inn, a bar in Nantucket, a faded paperback of Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections in his hand. "Hermes is a crazy … [Read more...]

The Ongoing Relevance of Reuben Jackson's "For Trayvon Martin" The tragic death of Trayvon Martin is as relevant today as it was in 2012 as is Reuben's most anthologized poem "For Trayvon Martin." Scattered Clouds Bail Funds In Reuben Jackson's reimagining of the night Trayvon Martin was murdered, Jackson cast himself as the boy's guardian angel, leading him home and out of harm's way. Instead of sleeping— I walk with him from the store. No Skittles, thank you. We do not talk much— Sneakers crossing the courtyard. Humid Southern night. We shake hands and hug— Ancient, stoic … [Read more...]

Black Voices Matter (Rose Reads #10) Lucille Clifton, Won't You Celebrate With Me https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem... Cornelius Eady, Sherbet https://poets.org/poem/sherbet Natasha Tretheway, Myth https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem... Reuben Jackson, Kelly Recalls 1963 https://www.splitthisrock.org/poetry-... Teri Cross Davis, Crescendo https://poets.org/poem/crescendo Brian Gilmore, o Canada https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues... E. Ethelbert Miller, Is This the History of Air? http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/c... Hayes Davis, Urgent Care … [Read more...]