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    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
    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
    The Poems of David Craig
    • Mar 3, 2018
    • 2 min

    The Poems of David Craig

    Dr. David A. Craig is a professor of English at the Franciscian University of Stubenville and the author of fifteen collections of poetry. Three of his poems have graced the pages of Ancient Paths: “Grace” (Issue 5), “Matthew Was in the Counting House” (Issue 8), and “Jesus Amazed” (Issue 10). Some years ago, he shared with me one of his many collections, Sonnets from Matthew (© 2002). It’s wonderful to see that poets are still making use of the sonnet form these days. As W
    The Poetry of Paul J. Willis
    • Mar 1, 2018
    • 3 min

    The Poetry of Paul J. Willis

    "I’m told I am a nature writer," Paul J Willis says. "but what else is there to write about, really?" He's also told that he's "spiritual," but, he asks, "Aren’t we all?" He likes to consider "John Muir and John the Apostle" as "friends of mine—or warm acquaintances, anyway." A native of the Oregon Cascades, Paul holds a graduate degree in English from Washington State University and serves as a professor of British Renaissance Literature and Creative Writing at Westmont Col
    The Poetry of Barry W. North
    • Feb 19, 2018
    • 2 min

    The Poetry of Barry W. North

    In today’s blog post, I’d like to introduce you to another Ancient Paths poet: Barry W. North. After retiring from his career as a refrigeration mechanic, Barry began to commit more time to his writing, and he won the 2010 A. E. Coppard Prize for Fiction as well as an Honorable Mention in the 2011 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards. He is the author of Terminally Human, a compilation of short poems. Six of Barry’s poems have previously appeared in the pages of Ancient Paths: “Who
    The Poetry of Olivia Diamond
    • Feb 18, 2018
    • 2 min

    The Poetry of Olivia Diamond

    Olivia Diamond was born in Chicago and lived most of her life in Illinois until moving to a log home in the mountains of northwest Montana, twenty-five miles from the nearest town. There she fishes, enjoys nature, and writes. She is the author of several novels and collections of poetry. Some years ago, Olivia shared with me her collection Women at the Well (1stBooks, © 2001, ISBN 0-75962-882-3), which is narrated through the voices of several Biblical women, from Eve to Dam
    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