New Reviews: Poetry & Drama

Marissa Davis's poems are on the difficult side. Her reading of them is clear, but her idiosyncratic syntax often makes the work hard to follow. The lack of variation in her delivery doesn't make listening any easier. The poems are good, if somewhat limited in range of subject matter, but they're just too complex for even a careful listener to parse in any detail at first.... Read More

Some of the poems in this collection were recorded at a reading in New York City, where Kay grew up. Her hometown is also one of her subjects. In those recordings, she connects with her audience, and we can hear the joy that she and they share in her very fine readings of her very fine poetry. She also reminds us of her successful background in spoken-word poetry--although even... Read More

Joan Baez fans of a certain age will cherish this sweeping collection of poems about her life, her friends, and her sensitive reactions to the world around her. Because this is a personal diary, only the author could have delivered this writing with such arresting impact. Baez's timbre may reveal her stage of life, but it expresses the gravitas you'd expect from one of the... Read More