Sharon Thesen, Day Song. Vernon, British Columbia: broke press, 2024, 125 copies.

Jason Heroux & Dag T. Straumsvåg, A Further Introduction to Bingo. Ottawa, Ontario: above/ground, 2024.

Eric Kocher, Sky Mall. Studio City, California: Rattle, 2024.

Lately my energy has been going into writing, playing music, chapbook-making – anything but reviewing. This happens fairly often, accounting for the long stretches without any reviews here. But I’m still buying and reading chapbooks and thought I could at least mention three recent and recommendable publications.

Sharon Thesen offers a very personal, associative treatment of the fires in her home province of British Columbia:

These dexterous poems are also about writing, John F. Kennedy, various friends and neighbours, and the ballet paintings of Degas.

The Norwegian poet Dag T. Straumsvåg has a lot of connections to the Canadian poetry scene and here he tag-teams with Jason Heroux for a playful series of prose poems with a bingo hall as the protagonist:

Eric Kocher’s Sky Mall has been issued by the journal Rattle and is sent to all subscribers, a nice idea. (It’s also available separately; I found it at Mercer Street Books in New York.) The long title poem, taking place on an airplane and written in a calm and measured voice, is not at all dry or emotionless. Rather it’s very human and expansive and, well, terrific:

All of these titles deserve a full review but for now a line or two will have to do.