Dismantling the Rabbit Altar by Natasha Kessler

Kessler creates an environment of mothers and children that puts the reader into a trance, so much so that the significance of the environment is not called into question until the book has closed. The forms fill the reader with the building sense of uncertainty that the content has already set within the reader. To read this book as a black and white view of motherhood would be a disservice, because like motherhood, the place this book creates is one of safety and danger.

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.

Black-Eyed Heifer by Shelly Taylor

The mixed forms in this poetry collection move the reader around a world where what it means to be a woman is uncertain. The poems are made up of moments full of horses and dresses which brings what it means to be a woman closer to nature. The greatest aspect of this book is its allowance for the reader to breathe and chew on everything that is given.

The Next Monsters by Julie Doxsee

This collection of poems creates a world where language has special powers. The syntax of the sentences builds thoughts into a beautiful mess. The grand intention of these ideas was not misspent.

Too Heavy to Carry by Cat Dixon

The strengths of this poetry collection come in the image based prose poems and compelling narratives. The themes of abandonment, the circus, the nature of God, and the nature of motherhood causes the reader to see the speaker of these poems as a whole person. There is a stark honesty in these poems that discusses the world as it is, not as we want it to be.