In January 2023, Sticks & Stones will begin its fifth year of publishing reviews of poetry collections. When I started the newsletter in 2018, I wasn’t sure how long I would continue it. I didn’t really have a plan beyond making sure that I wrote the best possible […]
Here’s to another year of celebrating poetry! Each book I reviewed in 2021 was a tremendous gift. As we endured a second pandemic year, poets wrote about navigating an unquiet and often frightening world, about Nature, humanity, and relationships, about heredity, abuse, and the rewards of long love. […]
Here’s to another year of celebrating poetry! 2020 was another amazing year for poetry. Each one of the books I reviewed for Sticks & Stones moved me, from Abby E. Murray’s poignant descriptions of being an army wife to Nicole Stellon O’Donnell’s depictions of life as a teacher […]
Here’s to another year of celebrating poetry! Each one of the books I reviewed in 2019 moved me in unique and unforeseen ways, from Shaindel Beers’ harrowing escape from an abusive marriage to Cynthia Anderson’s evocative descriptions of the Mojave Desert. These books went with me on […]
I’m happy to share that my haiku collection, STONE empty chair, has received its first review! I self-published it late last year, and had an enjoyable time selecting the poems, designing the book, and then, of course, receiving the box of copies. I’m also grateful to Serena Agusto-Cox, […]
Here are the covers of the twenty-five books I reviewed for the first year of Sticks & Stones. As you can see, the covers make a lovely collage, and each one reveals something about the poems inside. Every one of these books was an adventure, a chance to […]
In this post, I share my method for reviewing books of poetry. My reviews appear once a month in my newsletter, Sticks & Stones, which is free to subscribers. I read the whole book several times. First, I read it as if I were not planning to review […]
The first issue of Sticks & Stones, my bi-monthly newsletter, will be delivered to subscribers on Monday, January 1, 2018. Issue 1 features a review of Jenene Ravesloot’s poetry collection, titled Sliders, a random poem from the bookshelf, notes from the reading life, and a pithy quote or […]
I’m re-launching my online presence, which includes this updated WordPress website, regular blog posts, and an enhanced, twice-monthly newsletter. The newsletter is the result of a brainstorm I had during one of my nine-hour drives between Oregon and California this fall: poetry books need more reviews! I used […]
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