From the Bookshelf

By Alyce Wilson

**** Must Read
*** Good
** Fair
* Save Your Money

Poetry

"Drink the Light" coverDrinking the Light
Laverne Frith
Finishing Line Press, 2007: 978-1-59924-182-1
Rating: ***

Frith strives for clarity and sparseness. His words paint minimalist watercolors of nature imagery, observations of human nature, and responses to photos and paintings. These poems are evocative of Japanese forms, where each word must matter.


"Madame Vomitflly" coverMadame Vomitfly
Les Cammer
Amazing Experiences Press, 1999: 9781135278182
Rating: *

Cammer seems to think he's incredibly hip, as this collection of caustic and crude short verse proves. This self-love, however, would best be kept private, as he does everything possible — through language and subject matter — to alienate the reader.


"Shades of Silence" coverShades of Silence
Carlos Andres Gomez
Excelano Project, 2004 (author's site)
Rating: ***

Known in spoken word circles, Gomez's poetry plays off aural techniques, such as repetitions of sounds and parallelism, but also reads well on the page. Like his spiritual forebears in the Black Arts Movement, he sometimes veers too far into the polemical but always brings it back to the visceral and the personal.


"Suddenly Slow" coverSuddenly Slow
John Lee Clark
Handtype Press, 2008: ISBN 978-0-9798816-1-9
Rating: ***

Clark is deafblind and his poetry is simple and direct. At times there is a playfulness, as he muses on language and on his tactile way of viewing the world. He makes his world come alive for the reader.


"Weeknights at the Cathedral" coverWeeknight at the Cathedral
Marjorie Maddox
WordTech Editions, 2006: ISBN 1933456140
Rating: ****

Maddox's God is omnipresent in life, as much in playtime as in prayer time. Ranging from whimsical to contemplative, these poems explore Christian beliefs and their relationship to everyday life.


"Zero Boundaries" coverZero Boundaries
Irene Koronas
Cervena Barva Press, 2008
Rating: **

Koronas prefers a very loose form of free verse, where line breaks often feel accidental and the music of the language is untrained. Her most engaging poems are tributes to famous artists and writers, such as Picasso. But in her personal poems, and in her "language poems" (musing on words), her choices are often too unfocused.