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[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: In Rot We Trust by Rob Plath and Janne Karlsson

To say that death casts a long shadow over, In Rot We Trust, would be an understatement. This collaborative chapbook from Rob Plath and Janne Karlsson begins, proceeds and concludes in death. I’m hesitant to call it illustrated poetry. The pictures don’t mimic the message or elaborate on the words; both visual and written aspects are twisted and knotted up together in grim warning of the coming…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: Fuck Cancer Poems by Michael Grover

A Review: Fuck Cancer Poems by Michael Grover

These poems, as I’m sure you’ve gathered from the chapbook’s title, are a personal exclamation toward malignancy. The author, Michael Grover, has been told he might have cancer; there is, however, a further diagnosis here that extends beyond the poet’s liver. There are tumours which have spread wild and rapidly as they chew through the hope of a better society. I’ve been told I might have cancer…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Mini Review of Wolfgang Carstens' Hell And High Water

A Mini Review of Wolfgang Carstens’ Hell And High Water

HELL AND HIGH WATER, Carstens’ latest poetry collection, chronicles twenty-five years of marriage and children. There is drudgery, spite, regret and resentment. There are hangovers, sarcastic swipes and cold shoulders. There is humiliation, more than a few sex toys and an over-spilling confrontation. Most importantly of all, though, there is a thread of vulnerability that has been realised…

[matthewjhall1979]

An Interview With Wolfgang Carstens

An Interview With Wolfgang Carstens

M. J. H. Congratulations on the publication of HELL AND HIGH WATER. You have worked with a number of publishers and I’m sure they all have their own approach. What was it like working with Six Ft Swells Press, from manuscript to book release? W.C. Working with Six Ft. Swells Press has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. It is no joke to say that HELL AND HIGH WATER would not exist without…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: A Lark Up The Nose Of Time by Wayne F. Burke

A Review: A Lark Up The Nose Of Time by Wayne F. Burke

If you are familiar with this site, then, since this is the fourth book of his I’ve reviewed, you’ll be familiar with the name Wayne F. Burke. There are about half a dozen writers whose work I have reviewed with some measure of consistency; none so much, though, as Burke. Many poets find their voice and seldom stray from it, which makes reviewing book after book, without repeating oneself, a…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: Footnote by Trish Hopkinson

A Review: Footnote by Trish Hopkinson

I didn’t know quite what to expect from Trish Hopkinson’s poetry chapbook Footnote, and found myself entering into it with a somewhat dubious approach. Each of the twenty poems have a footnote, all of which inform the reader of whom the poem in question is influenced by or in tribute to; a concept I have never been particularly drawn to. At worst I expect the author might be riding a better known…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: Sedimentary Iguana-Land by Carl Miller Daniels

A Review: Sedimentary Iguana-Land by Carl Miller Daniels

Sedimentary Iguana-Land by Carl Miller Daniels and published by Bareback Press, begins with a heartfelt and personable note from the author explaining the origin, intention and premise of this unique little book of lists, ideas,observations and persuasions. The note begins thusly, “For many years, I’ve been scribbling stuff down on 3×5 cards and then tossing those cards into a battered old…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: Flower Wars by Nico Amador

A Review: Flower Wars by Nico Amador

Nico Amador’s Flower Wars, a Newfound publication, is the type of poetry I’m loathed to review. As I’ve stated elsewhere, the purpose of poetry – in my view at least – is to provoke emotion, which the chapbook in question most certainly does. The problem however, is that I’m not entirely sure how or why. Therefore, I find myself at a loss when it comes to pulling the thing apart for the sake of…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: Chameleon by Charles Joseph

A Review: Chameleon by Charles Joseph

Chameleon is a three-part collection of poems and stories from Charles Joseph’s archive, spanning from 2012-2016. The middle section is made up of six short stories, leaving the bulk of the book poetry heavy. The opening and titular poem is a confessional affair which introduces the author’s intent; self-examination and honesty. The narrator is an every-man type fellow, who knows how to keep up…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: 13 Poems From the Edge of Extinction by Adrian Manning

A Review: 13 Poems From the Edge of Extinction by Adrian Manning

13 Poems from the Edge of Extinction, published by Ohio based Crisis Chronicles Press, is Adrian Manning’s latest chapbook of poems. The book is hand assembled and saddle stapled. It features white cover stock end papers and pastel ivory pages. The cover art is by poet and folk artist, Kevin Eberhardt. As the title suggests, this sixteen page book consists of thirteen poems. None of these…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: Crumbling Utopian Pipedream by Scott Wozniak

A Review: Crumbling Utopian Pipedream by Scott Wozniak

Any half an idiot can put a pin in their vein and flush their life away. It takes a whole other type of idiot to stop spiking their veins and turn their idiocy into noteworthy social commentary. That, friends, is exactly what Scott Wozniak has done in Crumbling Utopian Pipedream. These poems are straightforward, unapologetic and altogether, honest. Honesty is a tricky customer, a word often…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: A Condensation of Maps by Roberto Carcache Flores

A Review: A Condensation of Maps by Roberto Carcache Flores

A Condensation of Maps, Roberto Carcache Flores’ twenty-six page poetry chapbook debut, flows naturally, reads honestly and breathes freely. The book is published by Dink Press and introduced by founder/editor, Kristopher D. Taylor. In his brief introduction (two paragraphs) Taylor clarifies the press’ intent and ethos. “…we wanted to use what resources we have to promote the craft of poetry,…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: My Parents Were Going to Give Me Your Name If I Was Born A Boy by Shy Watson

A Review: My Parents Were Going to Give Me Your Name If I Was Born A Boy by Shy Watson

The first poem in Shy Watson’s chapbook, my parents were going to give me your name if i was born a boy, is a tricky little customer. It reads like a text message yet has qualities of a haiku persuasion. in a thai restaurant in austin texas i wish you were here (from sunday 3.13.16, p12) I won’t upset those funny buggers, whose literary concern centres around the traditions and structures of…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: The Year I Slept by Matt Snee

A Review: The Year I Slept by Matt Snee

While Matt Snee’s latest novel, The Year I Slept, is undeniably erotic, it would be a disservice to categorise it as erotica. The book does have its portion of erections, nipples and ejaculations but they are part of a wider context. Unlike a lot of erotic novels, the pages between sex scenes are more than a short walk to the next quick fuck. Moreover, the sexual content, much like the larger…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: The Last Days of the Worm, a collaborative prose chapbook

A Review: The Last Days of the Worm, a collaborative prose chapbook

The Last Days of the Worm, a collaborative prose chapbook by Ben John Smith, Ryan Quinn Flanagan and Rich Wink is a dystopian noir where each of the four main players are as lacking in moral fibre as they are steeped in vice and cynicism. In the not-too-distant future, shortly after Richard Branson purchased the moon and died, in the wake of the Middle Eastern oil drought and broken by the final…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Review: Such a Good Boy by Josh Olsen

A Review: Such a Good Boy by Josh Olsen

Olsen’s Such a Good Boy is a solid collection of flash fiction. Not only are these deeply personal short pieces complete in and of themselves, they also fit together as an autobiographically themed collection. Olson has an eye for the ostensibly insignificant, which he uses to strip down the finer details of human connection and abstract communication. This is particularly evident in the story…

[matthewjhall1979]

A Poem: Patti's Still Got It by Matthew J. Hall

A Poem: Patti’s Still Got It by Matthew J. Hall

the water under pero’s bridge was still, as was the city during its best hour on a sunday morning she was playing a tin whistle you couldn’t get away with calling it music but the sounds were far from unpleasant from my side of the river I could see the market traders setting up their fare, on their side the crisp air tasted fresh as it will when so few of us are sucking it in and blowing it out…