Rhonda Douglas’ How to Love a Lonely Man was reviewed by rob mclennan at his blog: “There are some deep hopes, bad fortune and ill-fated choices within the lines of these poems, and hers is a narrator that wishes for something that even she knows is not nearly enough. It’s as though her narrator exists in a kind of Victorian longing: a blend of pessimism, romantic ideals and pragmatism.”
I also managed to completely miss this wonderful re-visiting of Apt. 9 chapbooks by Sandra Ridley and Leah Mol from Ryan Pratt at his always-interesting dead letter birds. It is a thoughtful consideration of both titles, as well as of the experience of collecting and discovering things you’d forgotten were on your shelves: “The motivation behind collecting – anything, really – can be likened to filling a blank horizon with inspired muses; the desire to create a richer lens to look at life through. Hopefully I’ll find some spare time to share more of these older titles as the weather cools. I owe them as much.” A belated thank you, Ryan!
And finally, after Stephen Brockwell launched his full trade collection, Complete Surprising Fragments of Improbable Books, this past Friday in Ottawa, I was inspired to write up some notes on Apt. 9 chapbooks that have found second homes in trade collections. If you’re interested, you can read it here.
Thanks for the mention! It was my pleasure to revisit them.