Allison Field Bell, Kerry Donoghue, Beatriz Seelaender
Allison Field Bell, Kerry Donoghue, Beatriz Seelaender
More information about the reviewer - Rachel Turney
Rachel Turney is a former art reviewer for New City Magazine. She is currently the writer in residence at NKollectiv and hosts the Trident Women’s Writing Group. She runs Poetry (in Brief), an online reading series and magazine. She is a staff writer for Bareback Magazine and a poetry reader for The Los Angeles Review. Sign up for her newsletter and learn more at TurneyTalks.com.
All That Blue by Allison Field Bell
Finishing Line Press
Allison is a beautiful writer of the natural world and the human condition. She has a unique way of gently connecting nature to emotion, form, and experience. Allison is an observer, part of and not part of the scene. This collection is also very sexy! Allison brings a longing and sensuality to explorations of daily life. Allison also highlights an understanding of craft and form in this diversified collection.
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Mouth by Kerry Donoghue
Unsolicited Press
Wonderful character development, which I think is quite difficult to achieve in short stories! Kerry introduces us to someone we vaguely recognize but who is also new and different - like the character Jupiter in the story You and Your Cold Soviet Heart. She writes with purpose. The stories are easy to read and captivating. Each plays out like a little mini-television drama. Some of the stories include unique concepts like the list of treasures in the story Jenny. I also found several lines that are pure poetry. Based on what I saw in Mouth, I would happily read a full novel or a book of poetry by Kerry Donoghue.
*Based on my request, this book can now be found in the High Plains Library District of Northern Colorado. Check it out (literally)!
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The Girl Who Was Tuesday by Beatriz Seelaender
Diochroneity Books
A review presented as a poem based on the characters - by Rachel Turney
This review was originally published in Infocalypse read it here: infocalypse.press
When you’re the oldest child,
you always find yourself to be
a Tuesday. Steadfast and forgotten.
Monday is gobbling pastry
in the garden and wishing that
after all…
she could find her wonderwall.
Wednesday is in love. Like Romeo
and Juliet, a two-hour trafficked tale.
Thursday searches for justice on
the streets of London.
Friday washes away the week
with disco music and sleek hair.
Saturday is given extra time,
to feel that she has mattered.
Staring into a microscope,
looking to the sky.
Bacchus is our Sunday
who dines and feasts.
Sunday is serene,
a cup of chamomile tea.
Together the days create
a rather surreal scene of
personhood, continuity,
and satire. Lose your sense
of time and days with
The Girl Who Was Tuesday
and be careful when you are
chopping carrots.
*
A note from Rachel: I am looking for folks to review my two books with small presses, too! Record Player Life (the b-side) and Retired Wannabe Club Kid. If you can write a review for me and help spread the word about my collections, please email me for a free digital review copy.
Thank you. The books are also for sale on my website: TURNEYTALKS.COM turneytalks@gmail.com
*I make graphics on Canva and do not use AI to write.
