Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Lindsey Reviews: The Delphi Series

The Delphi Series Volume II: Featuring Joy Ladin, Jennifer Litt, and Tasha Cotter
Pages: 82
Publisher: Blue Lyra Press
Released: 2016





Dog Eared Review by Lindsey Lewis Smithson 





This second entry in The Delphi Series is a great way for readers to get a wide ranging taste of poetry styles all in one book! Featuring chapbooks Answers to the Name of ‘Lucky’ by Joy Ladin, Maximum through Zero by Jennifer Litt, and Torch by Tasha Cotter, this collection has a little bit of everything. If you want sad, more contemplative verse, to a bit of whimsy, to careful use of sound and form, it is all right here in one place.

 Answers to the Name of ‘Lucky’ by Joy Ladin consists of sixteen poems, which struggle with both the idea and the physical manifestation of family. There is a lot of interesting back and forth with what family is as a child, as parent, and simply as an adult. Maximum through Zero by Jennifer Litt presents 22 poems, which have more of a prose style than the others. These poems are also more tongue in cheek, but no less powerful desire the witty titles and off kilter references. The final chapbook, Torch by Tasha Cotter, takes on bigger pictures thoughts on life and place and what gives something (a memory, a person, a life) meaning. Out of the nineteen poems within, my personal favorite from this chapbook has to be “I am the Wick and You are the Match.” Each chapbook has it’s own standouts of course, like “Julia Child Skis in Big Sky, Montana” and “Early Morning Flight,” along with the ones I’ve listed as Dog Eared Pages below.

It’s quite hard to sum up a book like this, since each voice presented is unique. That is also what makes this a great book as a whole. Blu Lyra Press has put out a book that is like your favorite poetry journal, only better. Instead of getting just one for two poems from a poet and being left with wanting more, you get to see a poet’s whole vision. Times three. That is some pretty great bang for your buck. If you’re just dipping your toe into contemporary poetry and want something that has weight, but is also approachable, you wouldn’t go wrong picking up this book.


Dog Eared Pages:
9,11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 21, 24, 36, 37, 40, 41, 44, 48, 50, 51, 54, 61, 63, 64, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 79




Lindsey Lewis Smithson is the Editor of Straight Forward Poetry. Some of her poetry has appeared on The Nervous BreakdownThis Zine Will Change Your LifeThe Cossack Review, and Every Writer’s Resource: Everyday Poems.

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