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Things Fall Apart: A Reflection on a Nuanced Novel

Jan 14, 2019
2 min

Things Fall Apart: A Reflection on a Nuanced Novel

I read Things Fall Apart many years ago as a teenager, before it was as well known as it is today, and then I read it again in college. Readers often expect imperialism to be dealt with in black and white. Either the author desires to see native ways preserved and consequently views any imperial attempts as immoral and threatening, or he's a Kipling-style "white man's burden" devotee who believes non-European cultures ought to be improved by supervision from their European "s

The Disturbing Tale of a Giving Tree

Nov 16, 2018
3 min

The Disturbing Tale of a Giving Tree

I was drawn to this book again and again as a child, and I discovered that my (then) three-year-old daughter also wanted me to read it to her repeatedly. The book has given rise to numerous interpretations, and I myself have viewed it differently over time. Some people have a negative, visceral reaction to the book because they believe they are required to see it as a positive and uplifting tale of giving, something they cannot manage to do. These days, we are accustomed t

Thoughts on Slaughterhouse Five

Oct 23, 2018
3 min

Thoughts on Slaughterhouse Five

Kurt Vonnegjut, Jr.'s Slaughterhouse Five displays a monotonous indifference to death, human cruelty, and suffering. An extreme relativism also pervades the novel, so that the death of a million Jews is treated no differently than the death of “[b]ody lice and bacteria” (84). Both are followed by the same resigned phrase: “So it goes.” If we accept Billy’s story, then this indifference is appropriate because none of these things matter, since time is not linear and life has n

The Invisible God

Sep 24, 2018
2 min

The Invisible God

The Invisible God: Poems for Devotions by John J. Brugaletta Resource Publications, 2017 ISBN 978-1-5326-1848-2 The Invisible God contains a collection of over seventy-five poems arranged in seven sections. The subtitle, “poems for devotions,” suggests that these verses might inspire thoughtful meditation, and several of them are indeed thought-provoking, though I read each section in a single gulp. The poetry is well metered and much of it is rhymed, but the rhyme is never o

Five Chapbook Reviews

Sep 21, 2018
3 min

Five Chapbook Reviews

Old Man Walking by Almira Astudillo Gilles Moon Journal Press, © 1991 ISBN 0-9755795-5-X This collection of 26 poems spans twenty years of the poet's childhood and young adulthood in the Philippines. Many cataclysmic events occurred during this time in Gilles's life, and the poems explore her early impressions of poverty and social inequality, but not without a sense of nostalgia, for the poet expresses a sense of homesickness for her family and the simplicity of her nativ

Snapshots and Dances

Sep 10, 2018
1 min

Snapshots and Dances

Snapshots and Dances by Leslie Prosterman Garden District Press, © 2011 ISBN 978-1-931002-95-0 I can’t quite put my finger on just what I liked about this collection. It’s not my usual preferred style of poetry, and there were certainly some poems that “did nothing for me” so to speak, but there were many others that struck me, drew me in, and made me experience particular emotions as though I were myself a part of the scene. These poems are as the title implies “snapshots”

Thoughts I Left Behind

Sep 6, 2018
2 min

Thoughts I Left Behind

Thoughts I Left Behind Collected Poems by William H. Roetzheim Level 4 Press, Inc., © 2006 ISBN 0-9768001-0-1 This debut book of poetry by prize-winning poet William Roetzheim takes a look at life, death, and religion. The collection explores the themes of growing up and growing old. It contains over one hundred poems and is complemented by more than thirty illustrations. The book opens with a short poem that offers a warm and personal welcome to the reader as the poet inv

Sacred Voices: Women of Genesis Speak

Sep 5, 2018
3 min

Sacred Voices: Women of Genesis Speak

Sacred Voices: Women of Genesis Speak by Sherri Waas Shunfenthal In Sacred Voices, Sherri Waas Shunfenthal examines, through numerous poems, the thoughts, emotions, and actions of the women who inhabit the pages of the first book of the Pentateuch, fleshing out "the silence / between words." She writes also of the extrabiblical character Lilith, who has in this age become a sort of poster girl for the modern feminist movement. And, despite the title of the book, she also p

Seeded Puffs

Aug 30, 2018
1 min

Seeded Puffs

Seeded Puffs by Cherise Wyneken Dry Bones Press, Inc., © 2000 Seeded Puffs contains approximately 100 poems, an impressive number for any verse collection. Wyneken makes masterful use of alliteration, anaphora, and other rhetorical devices. The imagery is well-formed and often original, but the author relies on this particular poetic device rather heavily. After much use, imagery—no matter how well-drawn—eventually ceases to have an impact. As a reader, I look for poe

A Parable of Women

Aug 4, 2018
1 min

A Parable of Women

A Parable of Women: Poems by Philip C. Kolin Yazoo River Press, © 2009 ISBN 0-9723224-5-0 A Parable of Women offers up the poetic perspectives of both modern and ancient women, largely unnamed. These are women who persevere, wrestling with the human pangs of loneliness, betrayal, longing, lust, and loss. Written in free verse, these poems make ample use of alliteration. Occasionally I wished for more cadence, to be swept up into the rhythm of the poetry, but the volume alway

Chapbook Reviews

Jul 22, 2018
6 min

Chapbook Reviews

Over the years, numerous poets have sent me complimentary copies of their poetry chapbooks for my reading enjoyment. This blog post highlights ten of those collections. For more chapbook reviews, see my blog article titled "Best of the Small Press." Bearable Weight by Michael Cleary CW Books, © 2011, ISBN 978-1-936370-51-1 Michael Cleary's Bearable Weight contains frequent allusions to religious life or the Bible in emotionally fraught settings and paints a sometimes bleak

American Gospel: A Review

Jul 15, 2018
4 min

American Gospel: A Review

In his 2007 book American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation, Jon Meacham He argues that America was not founded as a Christian nation, but he also declines to classify it as a purely secular nation where religion must be expunged from the public sphere. In clear, concise language, he relates the role religion played in America from the founding of Jamestown to Ronald Reagan, although he is rather sporadic in his approach, often flying through gre

Best of the Small Press

Mar 11, 2018
7 min

Best of the Small Press

As editor of Ancient Paths literary magazine, I have received numerous complimentary copies of poetry books over the years. Sometimes these collections are published as chapbooks (the term publishers give to a small paperback booklet containing poems or fiction) and sometimes as trade paperbacks (a publishing term that refers to any book with a flexible cardstock cover that is larger than the standard mass market paperback). They are usually published by either a small press

Review: The Geography of Prayer

Feb 26, 2018
2 min

Review: The Geography of Prayer

In The Geography of Prayer (Skysong Press, 1999), Donna Farley presents a collection of poems that range from the invitingly accessible to the almost-esoteric, from the charmingly sentimental to the deeply pensive. The nineteen works in this chapbook are divided into five sections centered around the vital components of prayer: meditation, confession, intercession, supplication, and praise. Each poem is well placed in an appropriate section. The printing is simple yet attra

Lenten Reading: The Poetry of Philip Rosenbaum

Feb 17, 2018
2 min

Lenten Reading: The Poetry of Philip Rosenbaum

If you're looking for some extra Lenten reading, I can recommend Philip Rosenbaum's Holy Week Sonnets (Posterity Press, © 2004, ISBN 1-889274-21-6). Philip sent me this collection of his poems some years ago, and it remains one of my favorite Lenten reflections. The elegant hardback collection of sonnets is a rare treat. Well-written formal poetry, complete with meter and rhyme, is like a swift breeze of invigorating air in a world that all too often scorns the riches of trad

As Days Go By: A Reflection on a Hopeful Poet

Feb 12, 2018
3 min

As Days Go By: A Reflection on a Hopeful Poet

During my twenty years as editor and publisher of Ancient Paths literary magazine, several thousand poems have come across my desk for consideration. It was in this manner that I discovered a delightful, but surprisingly little-known, modern poet: Ida Fasel. Ida died in 2012, at the age of 102, after publishing her sixteenth book, a collection of poems and essays inspired by John Milton’s Paradise Lost. The daughter of Russian immigrants, Ida started writing as a young ch