Nicole Perkins
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Foreign Fruit by Katie Goh is an outstanding book. I was expecting a microhistory about oranges, or citrus fruit as a whole; I was not expecting an incredibly well-researched social history about culture, society, belonging, searching for one’s place in the world, biases, acceptance, food cultivation, and environmentalism (among other topics). Goh’s book takes readers…
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Murder Ballads by Katy Horan is a treat for fans of Dark Folklore and Gothic themes (that’s a gruesome way to begin a review, isn’t it?). I was already familiar with “The Death of Queen Jane” and “The Twa Swans” thanks to Loreena McKennitt. Horan included a list of recordings, so readers can immerse themselves…
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Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder’s beautiful book Mother, Creature, Kin brings to mind the essays of Barbara Kingsolver and Rebecca Solnit, and Diane Ackerman’s A Natural History of the Senses. Steinauer-Scudder explores such topics as climate change, motherhood, seeking (and finding) one’s center as well as one’s place in the world. She asks her readers to consider their…
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Some of the poems in Alix Perry’s collection Tomatoes Beverly flow beautifully, creating scenes in the mind’s eye. Others are somewhat disjointed and difficult to follow. This may be intentional; poetry is art, interpreted differently by the creator and the reader. Perry opens with a sage reminder for their readers: “Things I should know by…
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“unconditional love lets you cry flowers” ~Brianna Pastor Brianna Pastor’s collection “Good Grief” is a jewel of a book. Her poems are deeply personal, but resonate with her readers, creating a sense of camaraderie, letting people know that while their pain is unique to them, they are not alone. Someone else has felt what you…
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This read very much like a writer telling a story based on true events. The prose poems were thoughtfully written and had beautiful descriptive wording, but the overall feel of the book was somewhat contrived.
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Don’t Let Me Grow Cold by Nicole Kapise-Perkins The teakettle’s whistlingis the music of sunrise musings:when I was youngerI wanted to collect the stars.I had a heart full of ghosts and strawberry daydreams;I was a small-town girl with big dreams:a carnival of stars would get me there,I wouldn’t disappear like a glacierwaiting for summer,instead I…
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Feel the Night Change By Nicole Kapise-Perkins We meet, we talk, but I don’t know you. Your eyes a flash of blue, bits of sky. I don’t know how it came to be yours, the sky. Do you have magic, that you command the very elements to your being? I would like to be…
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If Halloween and National Poetry Month were in the same month, my utter happiness would be complete. Alas, I only get to celebrate my birthday during Poetry month. To kick off the Poetry Month celebrations, one of my own: Love Doesn’t Rhyme By Nicole Kapise Perkins “How are you, really?” Just one of the many…
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“Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work” by Allison Tyra is an excellent book. She names and credits literally hundreds of women who were not recognized or rewarded for their achievements, from art to medicine to space exploration and beyond. As an amateur scholar of women’s history (i.e. I am not a student), I recognized…
This is the Mask: A Book Blog 