We here at Philly Poetry Chapbook Review love poetry, whether it’s in chapbooks or full-length collections. We have a hunch that our readers do, too. Every Tuesday, we publish an update about what poetry titles we know are releasing in the following week.
Information, including product descriptions, are provided by the publisher. If we cover the book on this site, links will be included.
The Night the Rain Had Nowhere to Go, William Woolfitt
Publisher: Belle Point Press
Publication Date: June 18, 2024
Format: Paperback
Appalachian poet William Woolfitt’s latest collection, The Night the Rain Had Nowhere to Go, brings together elegy and awe. Part environmental documentary, part folk songbook, each poem manifests places riddled with mystery, moving from climate change and rural resilience to more personal vignettes of individuals carving out homes in West Virginia and Tennessee. Despite the ongoing presence or threat of disaster, Woolfitt’s voice clings to beauty while seeking what can still be salvaged and preserved.
William Woolfitt grew up in Farmington, West Virginia. He is the author of four poetry collections, two story collections, and an essay collection. Ring of Earth (stories) was published by Madville Publishing in 2023; Eyes Moving Through the Dark (essays) is forthcoming from Orison Books. He attended Fairmont State University, Hollins University, and Penn State University, and lives in Southeast Tennessee.
Ripples in the Fabric of the Universe, Jim Tilley
Publisher: Red Hen Press
Publication Date: June 18, 2024
Format: Hardcover / Paperback / eBook
In Ripples in the Fabric of the Universe, Jim Tilley draws on his experience as a poet and mathematician to fix a lens on the current raw state of the country and the world and on interpersonal relationships. At times, his mood is merely contemplative, especially while expressing his fondness for nostalgia and in his testaments to family and friends, but as he delves relentlessly into matters political, ecological, and environmental, that mood turns darker, even ominous, infused occasionally with humor to present a more optimistic outlook.
Jim Tilley has published three full-length collections of poetry, In Confidence, Cruising at Sixty to Seventy, Lessons from Summer Camp, and a novel, Against the Wind, with Red Hen Press. His short memoir, The Elegant Solution, was published at Ploughshares Solo. He won Sycamore Review’s Wabash Prize for Poetry for The Art of Patience, included in his new collection, Ripples in the Fabric of the Universe: New & Selected Poems. Jim currently resides in Bedford Corner, New York.
Born Backwards, Tanya Olson
Publisher: YesYes Books
Publication Date: June 18, 2024
Format: Paperback
Born Backwards, Tanya Olson’s third collection, reports from inside butch culture in the 1980s American South as it traces how geography, family, experiences, and popular culture shape one queer life. The collection argues for recording these moments before they disappear, not for the purposes of nostalgia but because of their importance to building a future. Like much of Olson’s other work, these poems locate the extraordinary within the commonplace— hearing the songs of the Carter Family, reading a child’s version of Frankenstein, discovering k.d. lang, and watching soap operas with a grandmother become the building blocks of becoming an individual.
Tanya Olson is the author of Boyishly, which won the American Book Award, Stay, and her newest collection, Born Backwards, all out from YesYes Books. She is also the recipient of a Discovery/Boston Review prize and an Emerging Writer Fellowship from the Lambda Literary Foundation. Her poems have been included in Best American Poems 2015 and Please Excuse This Poem. Olson has been a featured reader at the Enoch Pratt Reading Series, Outwrite DC, the Stadler Center for Poetry, and the Dodge Poetry Festival.
In the Tall Grasses, Michael J. Olson
Publisher: Finishing Line Press
Publication Date: June 21, 2024
Format: Paperback
What is our place in this world, what part do we play in its drama or the politics of nature? While we live in our tall grasses it is difficult to see the world around us for what it is, difficult to find our path, difficult to know what is beyond the fronds.
Is our place determined by god or genetics? Is our place defined by the things we hold around us? Does our place in the world even matter?
Life in our tall grasses can be mystifying. These poems examine some of our relationships with nature, our gods, our things and other life around us – for what purpose – to what end and once this life is done with us and we travel to our far fields how does that relationship change for those left behind and for our future souls?
Age old questions – yes. Difficult to answer – yes, but perhaps addressed from a different perspective traveling within our own tall grasses.
Michael Olson is an author raised in the small town of Bisbee Arizona near the Mexican border. He received a BA in literature and creative writing from the University of Arizona and through a career with a Fortune 50 company eventually made his way to Cincinnati Ohio where he now lives with his wife of 45 years. He became engaged in the creative world while still in high school where he had major roles in many stage plays and speech/drama competitions. This dramatic influence can be felt in much of his poetry. He has been published in many anthologies and journals including Crosswinds, Orchard St. Press, For a Better World and the Ohio Poetry Association’s Common Threads and currently leads the Cincinnati Writer’s Project poetry workshops with members from around the world.
Kintsugi, Kate Leboff
Publisher: Finishing Line Press
Publication Date: June 21, 2024
Format: Paperback
Kintsugi is a collection of poems written from the heart and soul of someone and for anyone who has experienced trauma. This collection is for all of us. The poems are partly a memoir of a young woman’s journey but also encompass universal truths and experiences of joy and heartache. Furthermore, this collection revolves around the Japanese art of Kintsugi–the practice of mending broken pottery with gold, silver, or platinum lacquer to create a unique piece of art highlighting its ‘imperfections’ in a way that is beautiful. Kintsugi is a meditation on the practice of taking the broken pieces of ourselves, embracing our imperfections, and creating a more expansive and resilient version of ourselves. We should not attempt to hide our scars but endeavor to emphasize these ‘flaws’ to show how we have used the salves of learning, growing, and healing to create a masterpiece.
Kate Leboff has her BA in English/Creative Writing and a Masters in Professional Studies in Publishing. She currently resides in upstate NY with her two adopted pitties. She works in the editorial/production department at a university press full-time and freelance edits other authors’ novels. This is her first publication, and she is working on a follow-up collection of poems, a crime/thriller novel, a YA fantasy novel, and a book that is equal parts self-help and humorous self-deprecation.
Don’t see a poetry title published between 6/18 and 6/24 here? Contact us to let us know!
Contents
Check out new poetry books published the week of 5/7 from Stanchion Books, Black Ocean, Andrews McMeel Publishing, Picador UK, Mercer University Press, Wave Books, Alice James Books, Graywolf Press, Copper Canyon Press, BOA Editions Ltd, Black Lawrence Press, Grayson Books, Bloodaxe Books and CavanKerry Press.
Chapbook Poem: Disguise by Christine Kitano
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for May 2024, “Disguise” from Dumb Luck & other poems by Christine Kitano, along with a few words from the poet.
Check out new poetry books published the week of 5/14 from Finishing Line Press, Black Ocean, University of Queensland Press, She Writes Press, White Pine Press, Curbstone Books, New Directions, W. W. Norton & Company, Omnidawn, NYRB Poets, Anvil Press and an editor’s pick from Copper Canyon Press.
Check out new poetry books published the week of 5/21 from Seren, Finishing Line Press, Diode Editions, Copper Canyon Press, Nightboat Books, Milkweed Editions, CavanKerry Press, Invisible Publishing, Holy Cow! Press, Wake Forest University Press, Zephyr Press, Querencia Press, YesYes Books, Coach House Books and Rose Books.
Check out new poetry books published the week of 5/28 from Tupelo Press, Diode Editions, McSweeney’s Publishing, Michigan State University Press, Caitlin Press Inc., Carcanet Press Ltd., White Pine Press, Deep Vellum Publishing, Hat & Beard Press, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Copper Canyon Press, Sagging Meniscus, The Song Cave, Finishing Line Press and Broken Sleep Books.
Check out new poetry books for the week of 6/4 from Bored Wolves, Scribner, Coach House Books, House of Anansi Press, Biblioasis, Button Poetry, Seagull Books, Jackleg Press, Green Linden Press and Central Avenue Publishing.
Chapbook Poem: Like a Honeypot by Stefanie Kirby
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for June 2024, “Like a Honeypot” from Fruitful by Stefanie Kirby, along with a few words from the poet.
Check out new poetry chapbooks from Cathexis Northwest Press, Diode Editions, Gnashing Teeth Publishing, Seren Books, Grayson Books, Querencia Press, Ugly Duckling Presse, The Poetry Box and Finishing Line Press.
Check out new poetry books published the week of 6/11 from The Poetry Box, Finishing Line Press, YesYes Books, Burnside Review Press, Row House Publishing, Deep Vellum Publishing, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Phoneme Media, Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, Lynx House Press, Alice James Books and Inhabit Media.
May/June ‘24 Editor’s Note: Aldon Lynn Nielsen
While PCR contributors C.M. Crockford, Drishya, and myself work on reviews for our fourth issue and beyond, our May/June issue only has one editorial feature– the first in what I hope to be a series of long interviews with veteran poets.
A Conversation with Aldon Lynn Nielsen
Poet-scholar Aldon Lynn Nielsen shares about his work, his recent chapbook, and poetry in general in this collaborative interview piece with editor Aiden Hunt.
Check out new poetry books published the week of 6/18 from Finishing Line Press, YesYes Books, Belle Point Press and Red Hen Press.
Check out new poetry books published the week of 6/25 from Finishing Line Press, Nightboat Books, Coach House Books, Pavilion Poetry, LSU Press, Trio House Press, Leapfrog Press, White Pine Press, Carcanet Press Ltd., Dial Press, Milkweed Editions, and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.