Tinderbox Lawn by Carol Guess

These poems are meant to be read aloud, as they think they revolve around the interesting sounds and the pairing for words, but in reality these poems rely on the weighted endings that remind the reader that this lawn is not a safe place. The direct address of these prose poems makes the reader want to inflict a narrative on these poems, but this collection rejects that idea which causes the reader to wade through and relish the ideas that appear. Many of the beginnings do feel contrived, but if a poem can begin discussing how it is impossible to get a lap dance in Seattle and then end with, "you hear the voice of the girl in the box, the voice everoyone else mistakes for spring", it is worth attention.

How to Survive a Hotel Fire by Angela Veronica Wong

* You may listen to anything but Billy Joel while reading this collection.

The poems are fueled by negation. The flames are fanned when the poems turn in, address themselves, and cause the reader to discuss what really is a hotel fire and what does survival really mean.  The poems work in reverse if one wants to view this as a narrative book, but how has that ever assisted anyone in survival? 

But a Storm Is Blowing From Paradise by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram

Begginng with packed, syntatctically jacked language, the poems pull the rader into understanding by the time the last poem has been read.  The ideas pull easily into images, to the point the book feels as if it has been illustrated.  The strength of the book is achieved in the moments of discussion and self relation which leads the reader to fully understand the issues the speaker continually discusses.

Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn

Upon reading a synopsis I assumed the book would follow the  "this is my dirt bag father>> I became a savior for the homeless>> I had to deal with my dirt bag father>> I am marvelous" format, and I could not be happier that this was not the case.  This book shows the beautiful horror of looking like where you come, when where you come from is your nightmare.  Per the afterward, the book is shaped as Moby-Dick, and I am still trying to decide who was the whale.

The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake

His discussion of place punches Willa Cather in the balls.  The strongest stories in the collection discuss how patriarchy passes down frightening mentalities, and caused me to question how I view myself, as person raised in a rural area.  The men described in the stories are so real, I want to touch them, if only to punch them in the face.

Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley

This book begins with black and white ideas of righ and wrong, and somehow before the last page, the entire world around the reader has turned to a shade of grey.  The standard mystery genre format allowed Mosley to discuss social construction and morality in an entertaining fashion.  The over all ideas that create a person, specifically a woman, into a devil, and the plot twists, made this a book to be binged on.

Angelhead by Greg Bottoms

This book is not about a young man's drug induced schizophrenia, but the view of a younger brother watching the young man descend into uncontrollable insanity.  One reads the book, that is following the form of most memoirs about insanity, assuming there will be a hopeful ending for the boy with acute paranoid schizophrenia.  This book proves that sometimes in reality, there is no hope.

Grayson by Lynne Cox

*Suggested listening for this book:  Father, Son, Holy Ghost album by Girls

Non aquatic language mixed with a self help language relays the depth of unexpected duty and the pleasure there in.  The movement of events, though could be described as boring, is paced as such that the pages move rapidly enough for the book to be read in one sitting.  Ultimately, one leaves this book with ideas of self knowledge and how to relay those in an unknown and frightening world.

I Don't Mind If You're Feeling Alone by Thomas Patrick Levy

When capitalization meets dialogue meets profound in a prose poem it makes the inside of my ribs ache in the best way.  Sections move into sections without changing speakers, but really they could be different speakers which causes readers to consider if this book is about them.  Everything revolves around how the speaker and the characters relate to each other, to the point where I want to be their brother, sister, lover, and enemy.