In January 2024, Sticks & Stones will begin its sixth year of publishing reviews of poetry collections.
Reviewing collections of poetry continues to fascinate me. When I’m deep in a book, I enter a trance-like state. Time slows down as I absorb the lines these poets have so carefully assembled. This is one of the few times when I feel completely immune to the attention-grabbing pressures we encounter as we go about our daily lives. In fact, if someone were to ask me for advice on how to focus, I would hand that person a book of poems.
The books I reviewed In 2023 included themes of unease, of what it means to live in a human body, of the vulnerability of women and children in a patriarchal society, of the pain of mental illness and the loss of those we love. At the same time, the poets wrote about the world’s incredible joy and beauty, of the love of parents and children, and of their dogged determination to live meaningful lives against all odds.
I’m happy to announce the Sticks & Stones review schedule for 2024:
January 1: The Oratory of Souls by Richard Robbins
February 5: American Sycamore by Lisbeth White
March 4: Revoke by Joy Manesiotis
April 1: In Those Years, No One Slept by Claudia Serea
May 6: In a Body by Emily Hockaday
June 3: A Tree Becomes a Room by J. P. White
July 1: Sister Tongue by Farnaz Fatemi
August 5: The Book of John by Lindsey Royce
September 2: This Strange Garment by Nicole Callihan
October 7: A Rupture in the Interiors by Valerie Witte
November 4: Still Life by Katherine J. Williams
December 2: The Book Eaters by Carolina Hotchandani
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