Noah Davis
The Last Beast We Revel In
CavanKerry Press, 2025
$18
Playlist:
The Last Beast We Revel In coalesces around love for one’s romantic partner, family, community, and the natural world. As the Appalachian Mountains enter their most recent chapter of environmental catastrophes and abuses, the need to discover joy within the human and greater-than-human community is essential. These poems balance revery, mourning, lust, and love while wading the rivers and meandering the deep hollows of Appalachia’s enduring landscape.
Poems read:
“Trout Heart”
“Places Familiar”
“The September Side of Light”
Linda Nemec Foster
The Lake Huron Mermaid
Wayne State University Press, 2024 $24.99
Playlist:
The Lake Huron Mermaid is a story in verse with illustrations by Meridith Ridl. It’s a call and response book in two voices that was written with my co-author Anne-Marie Oomen. We each assume a different persona throughout the book. I assume the voice of Auroraelelacia, the mermaid of Lake Huron, and Oomen assumes the voice of Dawn, a teenager whose sister is struggling with long COVID. The mermaid and Dawn bond and unearth a deeper understanding of sisterhood.
Poems read:
“Morning on the Lake”
“Mystery”
“The Lost Sister”
“The Colors Falling”
“Contrapuntal: The Gift”
former DMQ Review contributor
Carol L Park
Songs Sharp and Tender
Kelsay Books, 2024
$23
Playlist:
Poems selected for this reading involve a long-enduring partnership between two lovely, neurodivergent people with contrasting cultural backgrounds. Many people who haven’t read poetry since college are loving my work. An engineer wrote: “Carol’s poetry is a heart-wrenching, sharply focused, wide-angle, deep field view of a love-filled life gleaned from a world too filled with suffering."