BOA Blog

BOA poet John Gallaher was recently interviewed by NightBlock's Eric Enquist on what Gallaher calls "inexpensive therapy." This form of therapy is prevalent in his new book In a Landscape, as Gallaher discusses his adoption in 1968 and how that has influenced his writing. "We all feel, at least sometimes, like we're dislocated," Gallaher says. "But for adopted people, it's actual. We are dislocated." At first, Gallaher was opposed to calling the collection a "book of poetry," and felt that this particular writing style and content was better suited as non-fiction. He says in the interview: "One of the things about poetry...

A review from Galatea Resurrects calls Karen Volkman's Nomina "a work whose sonnets’ flash quicksilver modifications, an impressive display of Petrarchan rhyme and, to some degree, a restricted verbal palate, so long as one reads 'restricted' as willful, as could be with a painter who chooses to work within a specific degree of hues. In tandem, these aspects create a thriving culture in which elaboration leads to acceleration." Reviewer Adam Strauss commends Volkman's bold use of the Petrarchan rhyme scheme, saying that it creates a "most gauchely delicious" feeling. "Nomina has as many gorgeous, gorgeously energetic poems within its pages as...

Image courtesy of The Times of Israel The Times of Israel recently published an article marking the lifetime accomplishments of Lod-based poet Erez Bitton. Bitton, who was born in Algeria, "has risen to the summit of the Israeli literary world," winning the 2014 Yehuda Amichai poetry prize and being presented with the Bialik Prize's lifetime achievement award this past December. Often considered the father of Mizrahi Isareli, a new and major tradition in the history of Hebrew poetry, Bitton's forthcoming collection, You Who Cross My Path (November 2015) dramatically expands the scope of biographical experience and cultural memory regarding Moroccan Jewish culture....

According to a Zone 3 review, Revising the Storm reaches "for something beyond the personal, through the personal" in an attempt to make sense of the past. "Occasionally, these poems break through their cohesive, straight-laced narratives into something I and many other readers will find much more interesting. Inside the effort to 'revise the storm,' speakers stumble upon the problems inherent in memory." Reviewer Robert Campbell calls Davis "first and foremost, a hypnotic, arresting storyteller. These are poems for the ear and for the heart." Revising the Storm is a collection of poems that wrestles with the problems we face when trying...

An Asymptote review is calling the poems in Nguyen Phan Que Mai's The Secret of Hoa Sen “fine memorials” for the historical struggles faced by the Vietnamese people. "There is both the quality of the earth and the wind in her poetry, an embracing lushness." The poems in the new collection are translated from the Vietnamese by Que Mai and Bruce Weigl. "Nguyen Phan Que Mai’s poetry collection is firmly rooted in the Vietnamese tradition, though her poems—or, rather, full-blown songs—also travel to Bhutan, Bangladesh, and other locales. The Secret of Hoa Sen is a collection about the earth-born: family, feeding, sustenance,...