Ed Bok Lee’s Mitochondrial Night: the dizzying balance of sacred encounter

by Tracy Rittmueller | Jan 26, 2020 | Lyricality News and Reviews, Read Poetry Authors

For more than a month, I have been reading the finalist books for Lyricality’s “Read Poetry Central Minnesota 2020” program. In each book, I experienced a feeling too powerful to express, something beyond words. Now I’ve just finished reading Ed Bok Lee’s...

Su Hwang’s Bodega: 7 hints for embarking on the risky adventure of getting into poetry

by Tracy Rittmueller | Jan 18, 2020 | Lyricality News and Reviews, Read Poetry Authors

Getting into Poetry This past week, immersed in the poems of Su Hwang’s Bodega, I felt suspended between immeasurable beauty and ineffable sadness, as if I had fallen into the presence of an unconquerable, fire-breathing truth. Poetry challenges me to see and accept...

7 States of Intimate Relationship to Explore in Kris Bigalk’s “Enough”

by Tracy Rittmueller | Jan 10, 2020 | Lyricality News and Reviews, Read Poetry Authors

I’ve just finished reading Kris Bigalk’s (pronounced BEE-yahk) second full-length collection, Enough. My hands love the sensation of holding this deliciously smooth, light book. The cover image—bare toes approaching water—infers that this is a volume you might want to...

7 ways to read Joyce Sutphen’s Carrying Water to the Field: New and Selected Poems

by Tracy Rittmueller | Jan 3, 2020 | Lyricality News and Reviews, Read Poetry Authors

What a privilege it is to slip into a new decade accompanied by the careful (and care-filled) words of the 5 finalist books for “Read Poetry Central Minnesota.” I’ve just finished reading Joyce Sutphen’s Carrying Water to the Field: New and...

7 Reasons to Read Katelynn Hibbard’s 3rd Collection of Poems, “Simples”

by Tracy Rittmueller | Dec 27, 2019 | Lyricality News and Reviews, Read Poetry Authors

Reading Simples by KateLynn Hibbard I’ve just finished reading Simples by KateLynn Hibbard, one of five finalist books for Lyricality’s “Read Poetry Central Minnesota 2020” program. Wow. History and finely crafted poems! Two of my favorite things.  Writing for...

Why Lyricality chose Paige Riehl’s SUSPENSION to launch “Read Poetry Central Minnesota”

by Tracy Rittmueller | Nov 24, 2019 | Lyricality News and Reviews, Read Poetry Authors

Why we chose Suspension by Paige Riehl Muriel Rukeyser, in her 1949 book of essays, The Life of Poetry, tells us contemporary poetry is important, especially in a climate of divisive political polarization. When contentions and divisions worsen into mass hatred, which...