The Pain Trader and Other Poems. By James Fowler. (Golden Antelope Press, 2020, Pp. 77) Reviewed by Terrell Tebbetts James Fowler writes poems about his state and region, the little postage stamp of a world that he knows well. He succeeds when he offers apt descriptive and narrative portraits of characters and settings and then leads readers into new understandings of … [Read more...] about Book Review: The Pain Trader and Other Poems
An Interview with Missouri State Poet Laureate, Karen Craigo By Molly Bess Rector The following interview was conducted via Slack on May 26, 2020 MBR: Hi Karen! How are you today? KC: I'm great! How are you? MBR: I'm doing well. It's gorgeous weather here—one of those porch-sitting days. KC: It's nice here, too, in a cloudy way. Perfect … [Read more...] about An Interview with Missouri State Poet Laureate, Karen Craigo
The Guestroom Novelist: A Donald Harington Miscellany. Edited by Brian Walters. (University of Arkansas Press, 2019, Pp. 319) Reviewed by Mark Spitzer In the interest of full disclosure, I should first mention that I am a University of Arkansas Press author and a die-hard convert to the Unorthodox Church of Donald Harington, who is my all-time favorite novelist. After … [Read more...] about Book Review: The Guestroom Novelist
The First Day By John Mort I hadn’t driven that little Nissan for almost five years but it ran nice. My brother kept it for me while I was away. She took the big Ford SUV and it was a fine car, all right, but nothing I wanted. The little Nissan was economical and never caused any trouble. An hour after sunset I parked between two big trucks and walked slowly through … [Read more...] about The First Day (Fiction)
Sucker Flats By Matt McGowan Two days before Thanksgiving, Patsy and I were sitting in the office and arguing about stuffing. You have to cook it inside the cavity of the turkey, I told her, or you can’t call it stuffing, but she just kept on about a fancy casserole she’d learned from her sister-in-law in Oklahoma City. It’s not stuffing then, I countered. “Fine,” said … [Read more...] about Sucker Flats (Fiction)