Click Here to Read About and Purchase: What They Bring: The Poetry of Migration and Immigration on IPBooks.net
What They Bring: The Poetry of Migration and Immigration, Edited and with an Introduction by Irene Willis and Jim Haba  Reviewed by Roberta George,  
              Irene Willis, from Massachusetts, is a long-time friend and fellow writer.  I’ve followed her career ever since she won Snake Nation Press’s poetry contest in 2005 for her poetry collection called, “At the Fortune Café.”  After that, Irene came down to Valdosta to attend our yearly Book Fair at the Turner Arts Center, and we had a great time together: two middle-aged (ha!) women, who through their love of poetry, found new careers and meaning in life.  It’s been one of my great joys and an added benefit of being an editor of Snake Nation Press to meet so many wonderful people through their writing, and that’s how I met Irene.
             Probably, because of the mismanagement of our country’s borders, and the difficult circumstances surrounding Continue reading Review of What They Bring: The Poetry of Migration and Immigration  

     Cynthia Read Gardner

Good morning, everyone.  Under normal circumstances, I would be saying, “Happy Fourth of July Weekend” and we’d be packing the picnic lunches and getting the sparklers and flags ready.  But these are far from normal circumstances, as we well know.  We’re social distancing, wearing our masks and trying to stay healthy and well, for others’ sakes as well as our own.

Many of us have been out protesting racial inequity, which is another form of trying to help our whole world become well – or at least, better than it has been, which may be the best we can hope for at this moment in time.

This column has always been devoted to diversity, which means we feature poets of all racial, cultural, gender and age groups.  You’ll have to decide for yourselves in which category Gardner belongs.  How about “human”? Continue reading POETRY MONDAY: July 6, 2020

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JIM HABA            

Good morning, everyone.  A bit cooler today, in our new two-seasons-only weather here in the northeastern U.S.  I hope you’re still well.
Full disclosure: Our poet today is one we’ve featured before  (back in 2010, actually), and also my co-editor for an anthology just released by IPBooks: What They Bring: The Poetry of Migration and Immigration.  But there’s a bigger reason for my re-introducing you to Jim Haba today.  When you see the book you’ll note that the striking cover is from a painting by Erica Barton Haba, Jim’s wife and longtime artistic partner, a dear person lost to all of us just a few months ago.

Continue reading POETRY MONDAY: JUNE 1, 2020