Julie L. Moore

Angelicus

Arts & Literature

“What a gift Angelicus is to us. . . . In this, Martin’s most exploratory and creative volume of poems yet, the angels speak volumes: . . . as avengers and jokesters ‘play[ing] on the edge of anarchy’ as well as compassionate witnesses to human frailty ‘scheming to undermine grief.’ Like his clever angels, Martin’s lines ‘spiral’ as they make ‘criss-cross flights’ across the pages, providing deft, inevitable rhymes and inventive turns of phrase alike. And most of all, these earnest angels know their place as ‘mere messengers’ . . . reminding us that ‘[n]o angel or demon / can separate [us] from the love of the Lord.’”

Evensong for Shadows

Arts & Literature

“Shanna Powlus Wheeler’s poignant, first full-length book of poems, Evensong for Shadows, not only is ‘pregnant with questions’ but also brims with beautiful songs—psalm and descant, doxology and hymn, ode and ballad—for she is a poet willing to ‘trek bur-weed paths / at dusk and wait / for one kind glowworm / to light its lamp.’”

Swan Bones

Arts & Literature

“Bethany Bowman’s Swan Bones carries in its pith both animated mystery and inquisitive myth, the spiritual flavors of ‘portents, prophesies, the book of Revelation’ as well as of blueberries that ‘know a wish has come true.’ Situated in a Mohawk Valley childhood that evolves into a rural Indiana adulthood, Bowman’s language is precise and imaginative, and her elucidative landscapes enhance every poem; so like the ‘Lamb’s ear, rose-hip, orange peel, [and] cinnamon’ in the potpourri Bowman writes about, we want this book to last, as its ‘essence releases slowly.’”