Whittling a New Face in the Dark by DJ Dolack

These poems of place leave space on the page for the reader to sit in the ideas presented about who people are. The strongest poems of this collection discuss the passion and emotion that is shared between two people, and the other poems resonate what it is like to pass someone you don't know and know there is a likeness between the two of you. Dolack's use of direct address fills these sparse poems with direct things for the reader to feel.

I Am A Narwhal by Kelsey Reifert

These poems consist of the simplest understanding of love, and cause me to consider how as an adult "love" has become the complicated part of life. The speaker of these poems is aware of its childish nature, but does not turn away from its desires. Along with the narwhal, I too become jealous of lives I can not be a part of.

Overlord by Jorie Graham

Lyricism and World War II made a baby, and this baby made my organs cry a million times. The movement of poems that involved attempting to pray sat underneath my stomach and crawled toward my throat. Some books need to be read again to work their way into your life, so the poems may reach their full potential.