Hosho McCreesh: Glowing, Smoldering, Like Some Far-Off Derelict Fire… an eChap produced by Right Hand Pointing, available now. Reviewed by Lynn Alexander.

Hosho McCreesh appeared recently on the Crow Poetry Hour (link to August 13 show) and I had an opportunity to not only hear him read, but also discuss some of his work and views on a few small press topics. You can hear the discussion in the Crow Radio archives, which will be linked additionally on our Audio Page. (more…)

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“Versus”, R.M. Engelhardt

Pushing verses

Past their limits

R.M. Engelhardt acknowledges that there is a difference between the passive participant and those who live a passion-driven life, but can often be seen in “Versus” wondering if there is a difference in the end. Passion clearly perpetuates the creative  imperative, manifest in poets like Engelhardt as non-negotiable, but to what end? There comes a time in the life of the poet where this question has to be dealt with. It is one thing to accept the terms of “the muse”. It is another to toil in the direction of some outcome, some goal. What, beyond that yielding and succumbing, is the poet desirous of? Fame, significance, appreciation, relevance? (more…)

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The Gathered Bones, Poetry by Michael  Mc Aloran, Calliope Nerve Media.

“Michael McAloran sets inner demons to words. He is an artist of sense, a tamer of Muse.” –         Nobius Black.

The Gathered Bones represents the latest collection of poetry by the prolific Michael Mc Aloran in ongoing partnership with Calliope Nerve Media- where Mc Aloran is hardly a stranger.

It opens with the following quote by Georges Bataille: “He who is damned bites at the sky…” (more…)

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Healing, Optimism, And Polarization: A Collection Of Political Poetry Musings By Jennifer C. Wolfe, published by Blaze VOX Books. Reviewed for Crow Reviews by Lynn Alexander.

Jennifer C. Wolfe has put together a collection of poetry that explores the political mindscape of America on the cusp of the post-Bush age. There’s no doubt that we, in America, had high hopes for change with the election of President Obama- many of us want so badly to see change on so many levels and we have come to recognize that we need a certain kind of inspiring leadership to get there. Even the cynical and disenfranchised by choice share a strong sense that there has to be a change in course because what we have been doing has not been working and is now dangerously unsustainable. Is Obama the change? Who knows. At the time of writing these poems it is certainly too soon to tell.

Hope, optimism, unity…these are difficult ideas to tackle, because the diversity that makes us strong is also the diversity that fosters pluralist animosity that renders reconciliation so elusive. Wolfe aims to touch on the dynamics of competing interests, and the nature of polarization in a society where groups tend to compete before they cooperate on mutual goals and opportunities and where divisive strategies seem to rally citizens and garner support and even rouse the apathetic. Can we heal? Can we come together, find common ground? Is it absurd to hope for change, are we that far gone? (more…)

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Marc Lowe’s collection of fiction, “Sui Generis” from ISMs Press, reviewed for Full Of Crow by Lynn Alexander.

“Sui Generis” And Other Fictions is a digital collection (e-book) available now from ISMs Press. It contains 23 stories that Lowe identifies as being written while he was living in Japan from 2004 to 2006. The stories have been published in various zines and publications around the web but are now assembled in one place, which really gives the reader a sense of what he has been doing as a writer and how much he departs from “conventional” fiction. I really liked the stories he chose, and I think Lowe is one to keep an eye on. (more…)

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“Low Life” by Karl Koweski, irreverent porn-lit, available from Tainted Coffee Press. Reviewed by Lynn Alexander for Full Of Crow.

Low Life is one half of a Tainted Coffee Press “69 Porn Flipbook”, meaning that it is a book with two sides, one Koweski’s and the other inhabited by Melissa Hansen’s “Her Machine”. The 69 porn part is self explanatory. Right?

I never tried to write about porn on this site before. I mean, we’re all about diversity here. I’m not uncomfortable with it, I’m down with the dirty. I guess it just never came up. Really. It just never did.

I can only speak for myself and my  “review” process here at Crow Reviews, and say what I have been saying about the way I approach creative work. I am not interested in- nor am I qualified to produce- a thumb’s up or down critique and also believe that it would be a joyless act to try. I am about looking at a book, exploring a book, expressing what I feel stirred to say about a book. I won’t say what porn stirs, but let’s just throw it out there: porn elicits a response of one kind or another for damn near everyone, some more coy about it than others. (more…)

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Tags: « "Low Life" - Karl Koweski - porn flip - Tainted Coffee - Zygote »
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The Gravedigger, a novel by Ilan Herman. Reviewed by Lynn Alexander for Crow Reviews. This is Herman’s debut novel from Casperian Books, released this Spring.

Sometimes he thought that all life was wasted. That was the nature of life- to be wasted. No bending words could change that.   -The Gravedigger

Ilan Herman admits that questions about mortality and purpose remain unanswered, despite our best efforts to confront them. Perhaps there is something in us that wants to keep trying, perhaps a stubborn tendency that makes us unwilling to let these questions go despite the obvious fact that we seem to come up empty. For some it is not a matter of pursuing purpose, but pursuing faith, choosing to have faith or being moved to simply accept or believe things even in the face of those questions.

Sometimes a writer does not presume to give us answers, but has come to understand that the processing and confrontation sets a wheel in motion in our own minds to chase our own struggles. I think that, above all, is what Herman wants us to come away with after reading The Gravedigger- that sense of being stirred to think. Why do we live? (more…)

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When the Cats Razzed the Chickens by Mel Bosworth, Folded Word Press. Reviewed by Lynn Alexander.
First of all, I have to start by saying that I happily ordered this book because I have never been disappointed by Mel Bosworth or the work of Folded Word. I wanted to write about it because I hope that you will read it, because it deserves mention, because I think you will be glad you did. Nobody asked me to review it, and even if Mel Bosworth was a tool (FYI- he is SO not a tool) I would want to ramble about it. There is an attention to detail that just makes me excited to have this book in my hands, tangible, “shelf-able”. I have this odd sense sometimes like web based literature feels transient, like something I won’t be able to go back to when I want to. I love that the web has made things accessible, but there are some things I want to keep. This book is one of them. The presentation is unique and thoughtful, with details that can only be done by hand collecting many of Mel’s pieces from the web into a well crafted presentation that is definitely worth taking a look at even if you have read some of them before. (more…)

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“Charactered Pieces” by Caleb J. Ross, reviewed by Lynn Alexander. “Charactered Pieces” is the second publication of the new Outsider Writers Press. It follows David Blaine’s poetry chapbook “Antisocial” as their second release.

Ross delivers exactly what you have come to expect from him: smart layers of fiction with thematically related elements. We see attention to strange details…and we see sick things that on occasion seem nudged into the foreground from where they stood, poised in the periphery. Perhaps Ross does this to add depth to the characters, rendering them alongside their context.

“Charactered Pieces” refer to flawed diamonds, a marketing ploy developed by the character of Lori who is herself a “charactered piece” and as such, seems unable to win the approval of her mother.

Ross moves on to “My Family’s Rule”, where concealment is part of the game of pushing people to decipher what we want and judging them accordingly. Trying to please the father, the offspring involved want to purchase proper presents, as opposed to presents that signify something negative in his eyes as in the case of the shotglasses: “white trash” presents. (more…)

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Tags: « calev ross - charactered pieces »
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Village Idiot, by Ross Vassilev, an eBook published by Full of Crow Press. Reviewed By Michael J. Solender

While legions of writers and poets struggle with punching up colorful words in just the right shade to elicit emotion or punctuate their meanings, Ross Vassilev manages to connect his work with the reader in black and white. Mostly black.

Vassilev, editor of Opium Poetry 2, and Asphodel Madness, has 10 of his works featured in the eBook, Village Idiot, published by Full of Crow Press. Vassilev doesn’t rely on carefully crafted prose or just the right word combinations to create a mood or elicit a response from his readers. He speaks viscerally, in short bursts and with blunt phrasing that often punches his readers right in their gut. (more…)

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