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Buoyant Beers & Light Limericks: A Summer Sip-Along

June 16, 2023 - by Marsha Bryant

The incredible lightness of beering,So refreshing with summertime nearing!O they’ll flow flavorfullyWith their low ABVsWhen the afternoon heatwaves start searing. #1Take an Air Bath when temperatures rise.Finely bubbled, its bite will surpriseYou with tongue-tingling zipTo enliven each sipOf this Session so brightly devised. #2A drinkable language that’s clear-ly straw-colored, delightful Kölsch beerIs so crushable, fruity,and lightly . . .

perennial fashion presence falling

June 12, 2023 - By Michael Thurston

A Review of perennial fashion presence falling by Fred Moten (Wave Books, 2023) A Review of perennial fashion presence falling by Fred Moten (Wave Books, 2023) I’m going to be straight with you: in important ways, this book might not be for you. You might be, as I suspect I sometimes am, inadvertently but consequentially, . . .

Whale

June 7, 2023 - By Ellie Eberlee

A Review of Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan, Translated from Korean by Chi-Young Kim (Archipelago Books, 2023) “Stories,” writes Cheon Myeong-kwan near the end of his lush and sprawling Whale, “are an exploration into a life filled with injustice.” Translated from the original Korean by Chi-Young Kim and shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize, Myeong-kwan’s . . .

The Road Towards Home

June 1, 2023 - By Helen McColpin

The Road Towards Home, a new novel by Corinne Demas, is just in time for beach reads and languid summer days. This novel, largely set on Cape Cod, is a breezy read with a literary bent, ideal for throwing in a beach bag. Demas is a prolific writer and while she has written . . .

Intimate Love and Tremulous Loss

May 17, 2023 - By Elisa Rowe

A Review of Standing in the Forest of Being Alive by Katie Farris. (Alice James Books, 2023) Why write love poetry in a burning world?To train myself in the midst of a burning worldto offer poems of love to a burning world. —Katie Farris, “Why Write Love Poetry in a Burning World” In the . . .

With My Shadow

April 17, 2023 - By Vika Mujumdar

A Review of With My Shadow: A Bilingual Selection by Hilde Domin. Translated by Sarah Kafatou. (Paul Dry Books, 2023.) Mary Ruefle writes in Madness, Rack, and Honey: “You might say a poem is a living semicolon, what connects the first line to the last, the act of keeping together that whose nature is to . . .

Limericks for Saint Patrick’s Day

March 17, 2023 - by Marsha Bryant

It might take yearsTo win your heart.To grab a beerWould be a start.–Paul Muldoon ‘Twas in Limerick, Ireland, was bornThis rollicking, frolicsome formThat refuses the haughty(But relishes naughty)In light, triple rhythms adorned. On St. Patrick’s Day, let’s turn to AleWith a triply delicious regal-ing of tasty dark brewsI’ve selected for youFor this . . .

Nights of Plague

March 8, 2023 - By Margot Demopoulos

A Review of Nights of Plague by Orhan Pamuk. Translated from Turkish by Ekin Oklap. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2022. Orhan Pamuk is the first Turkish Nobel laureate for literature. His work focuses on Turkish culture and history, using labyrinthine plots, an overload of detail, operatic flights of imagination, and tongue-in-cheek word play. . . .

Barbarians at the Gate

February 17, 2023 - by Nil Santiáñez

A Review of Ernst Jünger, On the Marble Cliffs. Translated by Tess Lewis, Introduction by Jessi Jezewska Stevens, Afterword by Maurice Blanchot. New York Review Books, 2023. An elegant, refined, somewhat aloof writer whose oeuvre spans eight decades, Ernst Jünger is a towering figure of modern German letters. In addition to his correspondence . . .

Beers for Burns Night

January 25, 2023 - by Marsha Bryant

If a body meet a bodyGoin’ for a brew,If a lassie raised her glassie,Would or wouldn’t you? Auld Lang Syne and whisky fineCan warm us all night through.But a beer augments the cheer,So let the pours ensue! Here’s a lovely Scottish AleTranslucent, copper-hued.And its creamy head prevailsOn tongues (and glasses, too). Biscuity and gently . . .

Massachusetts Review

Mass Reviews

Buoyant Beers & Light Limericks: A Summer Sip-Along

perennial fashion presence falling

Whale

The Road Towards Home

Intimate Love and Tremulous Loss

With My Shadow

Limericks for Saint Patrick’s Day

Nights of Plague

Barbarians at the Gate

Beers for Burns Night

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