Carol V. Davis
Below Zero
Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2023
$18
Playlist:
Below Zero is centered on poems about Siberia, an ethnic minority region of Russia where I was teaching in 2017 and 2018, both times in winter. Poems in this collection explore place, not just Russia, but Nebraska, the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere, posing the question, where do we belong? Other poems delve into folk traditions, faith and doubt, superstition, the nature of belief and the natural world.
Poems read:
“On Flying to Siberia for the First Time”
“January”
“Driving on Hwy. 31”
“Russian Chocolates”
Lisa Dordal
Next Time You Come Home
Black Lawrence Press, 2023
$19.95
Playlist:
In Next Time You Come Home, Lisa Dordal distills one hundred eighty letters she received from her mother over a seventeen-year period (1983-2001) into short, meditative entries that reflect upon motherhood, marriage, grief, the beauty of the natural world, same-sex relationships, and the passage of time. The entries—which are something between letters and poems—portray a mother who, despite her alcoholism, maintains an engaged and compassionate presence in the world, one nourished by intellectual curiosity, life-long relationships with family and friends, and active involvement in the larger world.
Former DMQ Review contributor
Brian turner
The Dead Peasant's Handbook
Alice James Books, 2023
$17.95
Playlist:
“Brian Turner possesses the extraordinary capacity to transform grief into art, whether intimate or collective, immediate or historical, illuminating that anguish so that we may learn, survive, even flourish in its wake.” —Martín Espada
Poems read:
“On This Harvest Moon”
“The Drive”
“Central Park in the Spring”