Christina Lovin’s book Echo (Bottom Dog Press, 2014) has poems about the satellites Echo 1 and Echo 2, Sputnik 2 (which took a dog into space), hot summer nights, cornfields, and Patsy Cline. It’s got gorgeous sonnet crowns about movie stars, American culture, and the dark reality of the nuclear age. And many echoes in […]

Let Me Clear My Throat by Elena Passarello Sarabande, 2012 Reviewed by Julie C. Graham In her book of essays, Let Me Clear My Throat, Elena Passarello writes around the central theme of voice.   This is not voice, in the literary sense, as in an author’s style or persona.  These are essays to do with […]

This year there was much joy for the EIL family as well as for the families of Mandy Al-Aswad and Thomas Steinmetz. Mandy and Thomas got married on May 24, 2014. Basel Al-Aswad welcomed his new son-in-law to the family with a tender embrace during the ceremony and also in a sweet, funny, loving speech in […]

EJ Miley, Jr. Matthew Murrey The Very Dogs I was at once emptying the Cistern of Nature, and making Water at the Wall.  At the same Time, there came a Dog, who did so too, before me.  Thought I; “What mean, and vile Things are the Children of Men, in this mortal State! How much […]

 The Death of Cleopatra by Reginald Arthur (1892) Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare Illinois Shakespeare Festival Regional Theatre, Bloomington-Normal, Illinois  Reviewed by Scott Klavan, July 19, 2014  The Illinois Shakespeare Festival says on its website that Shakespeare’s Antony & Cleopatra is an “often-requested, seldom-performed love story.”After considering the world in which we live, and […]

Jungle, Illustration Anarchy in Science, Illustration Walkies, Illustration Let Your Mind Wander, Illustration Teatime, Illustration Behind the Scenes, Illustration Self-Portrait, Illustration Imaginary Friend, Illustration Artist Statement My name is Robbie Porter. I’m an award-winning illustrator. My work is fun, bold, and sometimes a little surprising. About the Artist Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1985, Robbie […]

EJ Miley, Jr. The Unleashable Dog, by Charles Rafferty Steel Toe Books, 2014 Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor In The Unleashable Dog, by Charles Rafferty, something odd or unexpected keeps being revealed as perfectly natural, after all, in these lovely, funny, strange and wonderful lyric and narrative poems. Several appeared together in Appetites, […]

Atomic by Danny Ginges, Gregory Bonsignore, and Philip Foxman Off-Broadway, Acorn Theatre Reviewed by Scott Klavan, July 12, 2014 The creators of Atomic, the impassioned new Off-Broadway musical about the building of the atom bomb, can’t leave well-enough alone. The story is told from an unusual and clever angle, focusing on lesser-known physicist Leo Szilard, […]

  A Dog About Town, by J.F. Englert Dell, 2007 Reviewed by Seana Graham In keeping with our “dog days” theme this month, I was reminded of this very charming mystery featuring Randolph, the intellectual black Labrador, and his owner Harry. Randolph is not only bright enough to speak (to us only, though—in his own […]

  The Art of Sports: Hurry Up and Enjoy Ann Arbor By Mark Lewis Hurry Up. That sums up the philosophy of Fielding H. Yost, the University of Michigan football coach from 1901 to 1926. That also became Yost’s nickname as his “point-a-minute” Wolverine squads ran roughshod over opponents. According to University of Michigan legend, […]

EIL’s theatre writer, Scott Klavan, is directing a new play this summer, to be performed at the New Ohio Theatre, New York, a home for innovative, alternative theatre, in August. My Stubborn Tongue, written and performed by Anna Fishbeyn, is about a woman who tackles the English language as a way to escape being “defined […]

  Artist Statement  Those of us in the creative world, those that are the authors and custodians of our shared culture(s) understand that ‘we create, because we must.’ Many of my contemporaries, and certainly those that came before us…and hopefully, those that will follow us, realize that the best way to be creative, to insure […]

EJ Miley, Jr. In July, we enter the Dog Days of Summer, starting with up close and personal dog portraits with a sense of humor by artist EJ Miley, Jr. Here we have Shar-pei with pearl, modeled on Vermeer, and look for more dog portraits tomorrow in Miley’s solo Artist Watch feature here at EIL. […]

  Sabbath’s Theatre by Philip Roth HMH 1995, Vintage 1996 Reviewed by Seana Graham “It began, I think, because I was looking for a place to be buried,” says Philip Roth about Sabbath’s Theatre, winner of the 1995 National Book Award (his second). He had recently buried a close friend in a cemetery near his […]

Margarita Georgiadis What Reading Means To Me There are books I love. When I read them I feel tears Come to my eyes. You know What I mean. Sometimes You’ll be sitting in a car Reading a novel you’ve read before Waiting for your wife or husband To get done with the shopping And you […]

An Invitation, acrylic on canvas, 60″ x 48″, 2013 Far Away, acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 24″, 2014 Her Thoughts They Hum, acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 24″, 2014 Light Keepers, acrylic on canvas, 60″ x 72′, 2014 Nocturne, acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 24″, 2013 Pheasant Keeper, acrylic on canvas, 36″ x 48″, 2011 […]

Ryan Mrozowski Mockingbird Don’t use those words— some letters stain. Prick of that note—just now— on new leaves draws blood. I know how tunes unravel over time. Even the most well-intentioned are woven into your nest with my discarded hair. What is it about dishes that break me, hands sunk wrist deep in soapy water? […]

Welcome to the Family a welcome-to-the-wedding speech, a welcome to the family, and a toast to the newlyweds by Basel Al-Aswad upon the occasion of his daughter’s marriage, May 24, 2014 مرحبا Good-evening!  Family and friends, I welcome you all. We have guests and family here tonight from London, Canada, Puerto Rico, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, […]

Life and Fate, by Vasily Grossman, translated by Robert Chandler NYRB Classics 2012, Editions L’Age d’Homme, 1980, Collins Harville translation copyright, 1985 Reviewed by Seana Graham The wolfhound century leaps at my shoulders, But I am no wolf by blood.                           Mandelstam, quoted in Life and Fate  In February of 1961, three KGB agents came to Vasily […]

  Nance Van Winckel had two new books out in 2013: Pacific Walkers, her sixth collection of poems (U of Washington Press), and Boneland, her fourth book of linked stories (U of Oklahoma Press). The recipient of two NEA Poetry Fellowships and awards from the Poetry Society of America, Poetry, and Prairie Schooner, she has new poems in The Pushcart Prize Anthology, Poetry Northwest, Crazyhorse, Field, and Gettysburg Review. A collage […]

  World Cup mania is here By Mark Lewis The World Cup, soccer’s grandest show, begins this week in Brazil. And there are some burning questions that need to be asked. Will the favorite’s role be too heavy of a burden for Brazil? Ghana’s most famous witch doctor says he’s responsible for Portuguese star Cristiano […]

Paul Tremblay If We Can Believe Statistics, then sixteen people reading this are thinking about sex. Or sixteen were until I mentioned it; now there’s a ninety-percent chance that number is all, which proves that math isn’t boring, that math puts one and one together, baby, and the curves on a fine-lookin’ 3 can turn […]

Frederic Bourret The Realistic Joneses by Will Eno Broadway, Lyceum Theatre Reviewed by Scott Klavan, May 29, 2014 The Realistic Joneses, a new Broadway play by innovative, celebrated playwright Will Eno, featuring four popular stars, was completely rejected by The Tony Awards in April, receiving no nominations. It was controversial and surprising at the time, […]

The Way We Live Now, by Anthony Trollope Chapman and Hall, 1875, Penguin Classics, 2002 Reviewed by Seana Graham Though written in the late nineteenth century, The Way We Live Now has a good deal to say about the way we live now, which is why it might be a good time to pick it […]

Over the weekend, our EIL CEO, Mandy Al-Aswad, got married to Thomas Steinmetz at the beautiful Radisson Blu hotel in Chicago! Best wedding ever! The delightful ceremony, lit with candles, had just enough formality to make it real and just enough humor to make it delightful. The minister told the story of how Mandy and […]

Amy E. Mayfield A conversation with Trace, by Simone Muench Winner of the Black River Chapbook Competition Black Lawrence Press, 2014 (here entered by EIL poetry editor, Kathleen Kirk) I’ve been reading Trace, by Simone Muench, one of our feature poets here at EIL, and so has Sandy Longhorn, another EIL poet. Sandy wrote about […]

Walkabout, by James Vance Marshall NYRB 2012, Michael Joseph, 1959 Reviewed by Seana Graham As Lee Siegel points out in the introduction to the New York Review of Books edition of this novel, Walkabout belongs to that small category of books that owes whatever fame it has to the movie that was made from it. And […]

Night Garden, acrylic on panel, 36″ x 24″, 2014 Gold Beach, acrylic on panel, 40″ x 30″, 2014 Amber Haze, acrylic on panel, 40″ x 30″, 2014 Phoenix, acrylic on panel, 26″ x 24″, 2010 Hippocampus (Sea Horse), acrylic on panel, 30″ x 40″, 2013 Manatee, acrylic on panel, 30″ x 40″, 2013 Sting, acrylic […]

Brianna Angelakis Hung-over in a Garaged, Running Car While Contemplating Divorce Into the drink: we have been pulled from the river more than once, rigor-stiff, a gaffe in the face of so much authority, dripping orifice of distaste, grotesque blue in brass buttons, lapels— someone said this was quieter than folding up into your seat […]

Jonathan Koch On this Mother’s Day we remember that our founding editor, Christopher R. Al-Aswad, dedicated Escape Into Life to his mother, Rosalind, who began to paint later in life. Perhaps you sent flowers to your mother today, or perhaps she is gone. Wherever she is, wherever you are, may you find beauty and love […]

Michael Parkes Yvonne Zipter Waking, I find my arms folded across myself, a breast in each palm, cupped there as if in offering. My mother’s hands were empty. Phantom flesh let her fingers fall to the exact truth of her ribs— ribs and the knot of scars. Morning must have carried her, light as luck, […]

  It’s hockey By Mark Lewis I can’t skate. Let alone backward. I would cower in the corner if a big man with a stick and razor-sharp attachments on his feet barreled down a slick surface toward me. And I would attempt to melt before the same man fired a 3-inch hard disk made of vulcanized […]

Sweet Thursday, by John Steinbeck Viking Press, 1954, Penguin Classics, 2008 Reviewed by Seana Graham “For Elizabeth, with love”–that’s how Steinbeck dedicated this late sequel to the more famous Cannery Row, which takes place not long after the Second World War has drawn to a close. Those who still can have returned to their old home […]

Simen Johan Woe is me. I’m behind on my reviews of books by EIL poets! So, as we exit April, National Poetry Month, so blessed and so cruel, I offer this set of brief “haiku reviews” (it’s a thing!) for the following fine poetry chapbooks! –Kathleen Kirk, Poetry Editor, Escape Into Life Jessy Randall, Broken […]

Do something nice for someone By Mark Lewis It was a tragic accident, to be sure. A 22-year-old man died of injuries suffered when an alleged drunk driver sped through a stoplight in Bloomington, Ill., and rammed the car he was riding in. A senseless act resulting in the senseless death of Michael Collins, an […]

Scarlett Hooft Graafland   Austerity It must be austerity coating my tongue, tasting of nothing, dry and flinty. I dream I am burning, scorching in a fast cast iron oven able to see water through the isinglass but unable to open the door. It is a nightmare born of a baker and her sailor husband, […]

Alex Roulette In April of 1999, when Escape Into Life founding editor Christopher Al-Aswad (1979-2010) was not yet twenty (but was taking more care to date his journals than he did later in his young life), he drafted this poem in pencil, trying out its words and stanzas on several pages, and ending with three […]

How Long Will I Cry?: Voices of Youth Violence Edited by Miles Harvey with an Introduction by Alex Kotlowitz Big Shoulders Books, DePaul University 2013 Reviewed by Seana Graham First, a little background. On September 24, 2009, a shooting in the Roseland area of Chicago’s Far South Side led to factional fighting between two groups […]

Achilles and Cerberus, oil on canvas, 38″ x 49″, 2013 Arroyo, oil on canvas, 37″ x 62″, 2013 Creator, oil on canvas, 50″ x 54″, 2013 In the Forests of the Night, oil on canvas, 60″ x 80″, 2012 Small Glory, oil on canvas, 28″ x 50″, 2013 Hard Rain, oil on canvas, 28″ x […]

For immediate release: EIL Poet Scott Poole and EIL Poetry Editor Kathleen Kirk join central Illinois poets Judith Valente and Susan Baller-Shepard for News That Stays News: Sustaining Our World Through Poetry A poetry reading to celebrate Earth Day and National Poetry Month Tuesday, April 22, 2014, 7:00-8:30 p.m. First United Methodist Church 211 N. […]

Short takes By Mark Lewis So the Masters Tournament survived the absence of Tiger Woods who is recovering from back surgery. The first of the four major golf events also survived an uneventful Sunday as Bubba Watson grabbed control of the tournament from Jordan Spieth with a four-stroke swing at the end of the front […]

Nicola Yeoman The Signal Season of Dummy Hoy by Allen Meyer & Michael Nowak Off-Broadway by New York Deaf Theatre at the Gene Frankel Theatre Reviewed by Scott Klavan The most important things go unsaid in the revival of The Signal Season of Dummy Hoy, a dramatization of the career of a real-life deaf baseball […]

For the past several years, poet Kelli Russell Agodon has hosted a Big Poetry Giveaway in April, National Poetry Month. Poets in the blogosphere give away books of poetry through random drawings at their blogs. This year, 50 poets are giving away more than 100 books of poetry to the lucky winners! Several EIL poets […]

Crowning Connecticut By Mark Lewis Is it a story of redemption? Hardly. The University of Connecticut’s men’s basketball team grabbed the NCAA championship with a hard-earned, if often ugly, 60-54 victory over Kentucky Monday night. This marks the Huskies’ fourth title since 1999. And as we heard many times over the last three weeks, Connecticut […]

Summertime, All the Cats Are Bored (L’été tous les chats s’ennuient), by Philippe Georget English edition translated by Steven Rendall Editions Jigal, 2009, Europa Editions, 2013 Reviewed by Seana Graham A book with the word “summertime” in the title may seem cruel to mention to those of you still struggling with winter, or at least […]

Lizzie Gill You Arrive Carrying Apples Today, in a terrible rainstorm, you arrive, one great might-have-been, to sweep me out of my wind-blown cottage, bearing produce and white chrysanthemums with petals curled. I am not sure you are still welcome. The holidays were rather bad, your natural dawdling almost turned disaster, but now there is […]

On, Wisconsin: The ballad of Bo Ryan By Mark Lewis The usual suspects are part of the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four unfolding Saturday and Monday at 77,122-seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Kentucky and Connecticut classify as certified bluebloods of college basketball with eight and three national titles, respectively. Florida isn’t far behind by […]

Sparrow by Bethany Reid  Winner of the Kenneth and Geraldine Gell Poetry Prize 2012, Selected and with a Forward by Dorianne Laux  Big Pencil Press, Writers & Books, 2012  Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, Poetry Editor  Bethany Reid’s Sparrow is full of horses and orchards, quarters and ashes, memory, temptation, and dream. The book’s title and opening epigraph are […]

Officially speaking: A view from the scorer’s table By Mark Lewis With fans screaming, coaches gyrating and players making magic with acrobatic moves, it is my job to be the calm one. As official scorer for Illinois State University men’s basketball games, I get a unique perspective of the game and the officiating crew. When […]

Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson FSG, 2004, Picador (reprint edition), 2006 Reviewed by Seana Graham Sometimes books have to wait a long time for our attention. I happen to know exactly how long Gilead had to wait for mine for an odd reason. The book was recently suggested for my reading group, and I had the […]

On Balance, mixed media on board, 3 panels 14″ x 11″ each, 2013 Morphmap, mixed media on board, 12″ x 36″ (triptych), 2013 Morphmap II, mixed media on board, 12″ x 24″ (diptych), 2013 Shimmer and Spin (Chakra 3), oil on board, 30″ x 72″ (triptych), 2012 Year of the Dragon (Chakra 3), oil on […]

Sage Vaughn We are springing into translation this month at Escape Into Life. Jesse Lee Kercheval has been working on an anthology of contemporary Uruguayan poets under forty, including Agustín Lucas, the soccer-playing poet featured on March 5. Today, from Kercheval’s earlier translations of the “senior” poet, Circe Maia, EIL is pleased to present the […]

Officially speaking: Who are those guys in the striped shirts? By Mark Lewis With fans screaming, coaches gyrating and players making magic with acrobatic moves, it’s my job to be the calm one. As official scorer for Illinois State University men’s basketball games, I get a unique perspective of the game and the officiating crew. When the officials […]

Jim Naughten  SATCHMO AT THE WALDORF by Terry Teachout Off-Broadway at the Westside Theater, New York City Reviewed by Scott Klavan The one-person, or solo, show is a staple of the theater of today, an occurrence likely caused by the financial straits of the art form- already mentioned several times in these columns, and sure […]

Juuri This month we introduce our new Translations Editor, Jackie K. White. Jackie arranged for our translations by Jesse Lee Kercheval of Uruguayan poets Agustín Lucas, posted March 5, and of Circe Maia, coming up next week. Also this month, Jackie attended the AWP Conference in Seattle and the MELUS (Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the U.S.) […]

When the Killing’s Done, by T.C. Boyle Penguin USA, 2011 Reviewed by Seana Graham Although I was born in Southern California, and Santa Catalina Island was part of my Angelino awareness, I never really registered its more northerly cousins off the coast of Santa Barbara and Ventura.  It wasn’t until a few years ago, when […]

From Jesse Lee Kercheval’s upcoming anthology of Uruguayan poets under 40 comes “El diez” / “Number Ten” by Agustín Lucas, an Uruguayan poet and the author of two books, No todos los dedos son prensiles and Club. He is also a professional soccer player, formerly the captain of the Miramar Misiones, the Uruguayan Second Division […]

Our new theatre reviewer at Escape Into Life is Scott Klavan, an actor, director, and playwright in New York. By now, you’ve probably seen several of his reviews here, which are also often essays on the state of theatre in our culture. For twenty years, Scott was Script and Story Analyst for the legendary actors Paul […]

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers Houghton Mifflin, 1940 Reviewed by Seana Graham I reread this book recently with my book group. I use the word “reread” in a qualified sense because I know that as a teenager I never finished it. I was surprised to discover that I must have made […]

Riding on the Hope Horse, inks, handmade pigments on clay board panel, 12″ x 12″, 2009 In Awe, inks, handmade pigments on clay board panel, 18″ x 24″, 2010 Fire, inks, clay pigments, gold leaf on clay board panel, 21″ x 13″, 2014 Earth, inks, handmade pigments on clay board panel, 10.5″ x 6.5″ framed, […]

  Sean Mahan Girls with Moustaches Who can say what happens when two girls fall into giggles? Never mind that one is not quite five, while the other has just turned sixty or that the younger kneels in the other’s lap, blue eyes to blue eyes, wrinkles to not a blemish. The sound of forks, […]

Jarek Puczel Sam Rasnake In Matters of Love Yours is an ox’s heart — slow, determined, but strong enough to move any load as far as needed with a perfect knowing of moment and place and how it is you mean to let go Carol Berg At Sea Dear Sir, I seem to be marooned […]

The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths, by Sandy Longhorn Jacar Press, 2013  Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, Poetry Editor  The Girlhood Book of Prairie Myths, by Sandy Longhorn, is a truly haunting book of poems, full of blood, bones, death, mysterious disappearances, and eerie beauty. There are poems with titles that begin “Haunting Tale…” or “Cautionary […]

John Wentz Bronx Bombers by Eric Simonson, directed by the playwright Circle in the Square, 235 W. 50th St., Manhattan, New York, NY Reviewed by Scott Klavan Let’s face it: sports are better than theater. Every day and night, pro and amateur athletes, in major and minor leagues, take genuine risks, putting their bodies, their […]

Chris Ballantyne February Psalm For a couple of hours, the light snow drifts, disappears, drifts, disappears, and the feeble winter won’t make up its mind. I watch, drink my dark roast, as if I’ll live forever. I don’t have words for it really— only holes in the sky my fingers can’t reach though I stretch […]

The Kraus Project, by Jonathan Franzen FSG, 2013 Reviewed by Seana Graham Many readers may have become aware of Jonathan Franzen’s work for the first time when he famously declined to take part on The Oprah Winfrey Show in a discussion of his novel The Corrections (Picador, 2001), but I discovered him in an earlier […]

To See Your Face, oil on wood, 42 cm x 30 cm, 2013 Girl on Stool, red chalk drawing, 2013 Mine, Conté, red chalk, and charcoal drawing, 16.5″ x 11.8″ x 0.4″, 2014 The Unveiling, original oil on paper, 51 cm x 43 com, 2013 Portrait in Sienna, original oil on canvas, 50 cm x […]

Lee Eunyeol A Constitution of Silence by Jannett Highfill Green Fuse Poetic Arts, 2013 Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk Poetry Editor, Escape Into Life I needed some heat and light here in January in the center of the polar vortex, so I reread A Constitution of Silence, by Jannett Highfill, which came out this summer from […]

Luca Bartolato With eyes I love you with fount eyes. With ribs that open and close to call for late waves. Between sight and silence, these walls now exhale: I miss you with fog teeth Through a new shattered window that looks at the valley. Beltrán’s Obol Beltrán drank two of my strongest mojitos every […]

March: Book One, by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell Top Shelf Productions, 2013 Reviewed by Seana Graham As we come up on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I thought it might be nice to talk about a graphic “novel” that came out last year, a memoir in cartoon form by the noted congressman […]

What Favors of God You Deny, acrylics on canvas, 54″ x 72″, 2013 Indeed You Give in Abundance, acrylics on canvas, 54? x 72″, 2013 If You Remember Me, I Will Remember You, acrylics on canvas, 54″ x 72″, 2013 My God Is Near and He Listens, acrylics on canvas, 54″ x 72″, 2013 Increase […]

Trying to Fly, Music CD by Naomi Ashley Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk I’ve been listening to Naomi Ashley’s CD Trying to Fly over and over this winter, the way I read poetry chapbooks before I review them. This repeated listening turns a new album into a familiar and beloved album, offering a series of favorite songs […]

christmas eve The year of the ceramic Christmas tree “Uncle” Dell was a skinny Santa with whisky breath I was handed a cash filled envelope from dad “For what you want—your brother got the same” Holiday Inn on the television Mom had eaten by the sink during supper Embarrassed by her teeth Later I drove […]

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare Shakespeare’s Globe in a limited run at The Belasco Theatre on Broadway Directed by Tim Carroll Starring Mark Rylance and Stephen Fry Reviewed by Scott Klavan Mark Rylance is usually a show unto himself, but in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, currently running on Broadway, he has the support of an accomplished […]

The Cold Cold Ground, by Adrian McKinty Serpent’s Tail, Seventh Street Books, Audible, 2012 Reviewed by Seana Graham When I first thought about writing this up back in December, it seemed like a pretty original idea. I’ve been a fan of McKinty’s work since I happened upon it several years ago, and have often tried to brainstorm […]

Heather Horton Escape Into Chris: Winged or Shriven Excerpts from the journals and library of Christopher Al-Aswad (1979-2010)  For those of us in the northern hemisphere, it’s the winter solstice, commonly known as the first day of winter and the longest night of the year. We are in the season of advent for some, a […]

Danielle Hanson Rails, by Tom Kenaston and Tom Paitson Kelly A musical reading at the York Theatre, New York December 13, 2013 An essay review by Scott Klavan New York is the Big Town these days for staged readings, script-in-hand performances of theatrical works-in-progress. Every night, it seems, there are theaters, large and small, presenting […]

  Rock Crystal, by Adalbert Stifter, translated by Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore NYRB Classics, 2008 (first published 1853; this translation, 1945) Reviewed by Seana Graham Don’t get me wrong, I’m as much in favor of the Dickensian version of the Christmas season as the next person, but there’s room for other visions at this […]

Combine, pen, India ink, graphite, colored pencil, collage on paper, 24″ x 21″, 2011 Daydream, pen, graphite, colored pencil, India ink on paper, 38″ x 26″, 2011 Grow, India ink, pen, colored pencil, collage on paper, 72″ x 20″, 2012 Midline, India ink, pen, graphite, colored pencil on paper, 72″ x 22″, 2012 Passing Through, […]

Stone Bride Madrigals by Nicolette Wong corrupt press, 2013 Sort of a review by Kathleen Kirk Poetry Editor Stone Bride Madrigals, by Nicolette Wong, is a chapbook of eleven poems—brief or extended lyrical flights of image and language. Yes, there is a statue, there is stone, there are rooms and halls, but the poems escape […]

Three of our EIL poets have been busy in 2013 creating books that might inspire poets in 2014, so keep these two craft-related books in mind for gifts as you do your holiday shopping this season. Kelli Russell Agodon and Martha Silano teamed up to provide daily prompts for poets in The Daily Poet (Two […]

Samuel Jan Child Sobbing at the Library Suddenly the quiet, that empty jug, is being filled with crying. A child is sobbing: not the wailing of a slapped kid, and not the tearful screeching of demands and whining. No, it is a child crying for something lost or broken, something that will never be replaced. […]

Mr. White’s Confession, by Robert Clark Picador USA, 1998 Reviewed by Seana Graham We should perhaps get clear from the start that the Mr. White in question here is named Herbert, not Walter. He is not a brilliant meth dealing chemist, but rather a lonely photographer with some memory problems. And the setting is not […]

And I Looked for It, oil on panel, 32″ x 24″, 2013 I Crossed That Off Too, oil on panel, 60″ x 48″, 2013 Lessons Were Learned, oil on panel, 48″ x 36″, 2013  Peace Is Soon to Follow, oil on panel, 48″ x 36″, 2013 Where the Water Left Me, oil on panel, 36″ […]

Xiong Lijun In praise and thanksgiving, we announce our Pushcart Prize nominees for 2013. Thanks to all our poets, writers, readers, artists, and loyal supporters! Spread the love. Pushcart Prize Nominees for 2013 Francine Leffler Ringold, “What to Do with Old Pictures” Simone Muench, “Wolf Cento” Susan Blackwell Ramsey, “Watching Sheet Lightning From The Porch of Ann […]

Sherry Karver The Jacksonian by Beth Henley at the New Group, New York Reviewed by Scott Klavan The Jacksonian centers on a mediocre motel by that name in Jackson, Mississippi in 1964. Here, a group of unhappy middle-aged southerners wreak havoc on each other and a little girl. Dentist Bill Perch (Ed Harris) has a […]

Scott Kahn Thank You, Chicago by Basel Al-Aswad Forty years ago, in August, 1973, an ambitious young man, I arrived at Michael Reese Hospital in the heart of the city of Chicago to start my Orthopedic Residency. I knew but two friends from back home (Baghdad) and all my belongings would fit in the back […]

Savannah Daras As the holidays and the dark days of winter approach, many people cope with depression or suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or are just plain cold and sad. In December of 2009, Escape Into Life founding editor, Chris Al-Aswad (1979-2010), was feeling cold and restless, was steadily writing in his journal, and […]

Brian Taylor No Man’s Land by Harold Pinter at the Cort Theater, New York Reviewed by Scott Klavan So how do you do Pinter in a Hunger Games world? How do you get across the subtle and sly interaction, elliptical, repetitive dialogue and nearly impenetrable story lines to an audience used to being spoon-fed blatant, overly explained, […]

Falconer, by John Cheever Vintage, 1992 Reviewed by Seana Graham I got on to this book after reading a recent Slate review, which claimed that Falconer was John Cheever’s masterpiece. I was surprised. Although I hadn’t read much Cheever, I’d thought his collection of short stories, which aficionados refer to as “The Big Red Book”, […]

  Ca’ d’Oro, Venice II, Watercolor, 7″ x 7″, 2013   Venice, Arrival, Watercolor, 7″ x 10″, 2013   Royal Palace Doorknocker, Fez, Watercolor, 8″ x 10″, 2012   Courtyard of the Mexuar, Alhambra, Granada II, Watercolor, 14″ x 9″, 2012   Royal Palace Doors, Fez III, Watercolor, 15″ x 9″, 2012 Artist Statement The […]

Nigel Cox Letter 3/12/07 At night, in the fields, small fires are burning. Nobody knows who sets them. People come and go in the darkness but they leave no trace. The moon enforces its pale cold silence from horizon to horizon and everything is strange to everything else. In the soil, small ordinary objects are […]

Angel Oak, 22 x 28 inches, 2012 Aspens, Utah, 22 x 28 inches, 2013 Sun’s Rays, Rialto Beach, 22 x 28 inches, 2012 Trees and Fog 2, Blue Ridge, 22 x 28 inches, 1997 Trees Taiwan, 22 x 28 inches, 1995 Leaning Trees, Yellowstone, 22 x 28, 2009 Dead Trees, Idaho, 22 x 28, 2012 […]

Darling Hands, Darling Tongue by Sally Rosen Kindred Hyacinth Girl Press, 2013 Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk EIL Poetry Editor Cover art by Nashay Jones I’ve recently learned two words, from other languages, similar to “nostalgia”—the Welsh “hiraeth” and the Portuguese “saudade”—that also describe feelings I get reading Peter Pan, seeing the movie, Finding Neverland, or […]

  The Haiku Apprentice, by Abigail Friedman Stone Bridge Press, 2006 Reviewed by Seana Graham A couple of weeks ago, this book came to mind again in the course of an online conversation, and I thought it would be a perfect one to share with readers here at Escape Into Life. The Haiku Apprentice is […]

Caravaggio Praise Your Life When on a June morning heavy with rain, you can taste the best cappuccino this side of Rome, in a cafe with scarred maplewood tables, a book of Caravaggio splayed open: The Calling of St. Matthew that could be set in a tavern, a gambling den, a dank office where tax […]

Dan May Kate Bernadette Benedict  The Gathering A spray of chevrons, epaulettes so fine! The thirteenth chevron seems a lucky sign. Indeed, this was the proper place to gather, where the better roads meet: 66, the Silk, the Via Regia. My compliments for choosing it. Yes, done! I’ve taken roll call. Only a few drones […]

The Black Spider by Jeremias Gotthelf, translated by Susan Bernofsky NYRB 2013 Reviewed by Seana Graham New York Review Books has published this Swiss classic just in time to be part of our creepy Halloween lead up. Gotthelf is actually the pen name of a Swiss pastor, Albert Bitzius, who published the original in 1842, […]

Romancing Gravity by Daniel Romo Silver Birch Press, 2013 Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor Romancing Gravity is a book with balls. Stickball, baseball, football, tee ball. Swear words, anger, regret. Drive-in movies, magic shows, liquor stores. Current events, social commentary, nostalgia. And a car chase. It’s got prose poems, free verse, and a […]

Hunted, oil on beeswax and Dutch metal on board, 23″ x 40″, 2013 Cocoon, oil, beeswax, and Dutch metal on board, 69 cm x 69 cm, 2012 Still Here, oil on metal leaf gilding on canvas, 40″ x 40″, 2013 The Players I, oil, beeswax, and Dutch metal on board, 24″ x 18″, 2012 You Made […]

Unexplained Fevers by Jeannine Hall Gailey New Binary Press, 2013 Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, EIL Poetry Editor Unexplained Fevers, by Jeannine Hall Gailey, is a scary book of poems. The title hints at the danger: if the fevers are unexplained, there won’t be a way to find a cure. The fevers will remain a mystery […]

Don’t Look Now, by Daphne du Maurier NYRB , 2008 Reviewed by Seana Graham “Don’t look now,” John said to his wife, “but there are a couple of old girls two tables away who are trying to hypnotise me.” So begins the title story of a New York Review Books Classics collection of creepy tales that seems […]

Rashod Taylor If you had never known fear If you had never been told what to avoid, where not to walk at night. If you had never heard stories of girls who went out alone, the violent endings that keep you hyperaware and vigilant. If your body could be something other than desire’s object. If […]

Trine Bumiller Our newest Artist Watch editor at Escape Into Life is Maureen E. Doallas, who is also an EIL poet and who writes her own blog on the arts, Writing Without Paper. Maureen E. Doallas is the author of Neruda’s Memoirs: Poems (T.S. Poetry Press, 2011). Her work can be found in Open to Interpretation: […]

Meghan Howland EIL poet Susan Elbe has a new book out, The Map of What Happened, which won the Backwaters Prize at Backwaters Press. (By lovely chance, EIL poet Aaron Anstett is also a past winner of the Backwaters Prize, for No Accident.)  Susan will be reading from her new book this month at several […]

Samantha Huang We have a new Book Review editor at Escape Into Life, Seana Graham.  Seana is a reader, former bookseller, and fiction writer who maintains blogs on a variety of topics. We are glad to have her telling us about books here at EIL. Seana Graham worked for many years in an independent bookstore […]

Kenichi Hoshine A Deep Dark Wood All the raccoon thinks are raccoon thoughts, and all the chicken thinks are chicken thoughts. When they think of the thoughts of the other all they imagine is hunger. When they think of the thoughts of human beings all they imagine is hunger. Raccoons and chickens are very wise, […]

Our EIL Artist Watch photographer Rashod Taylor has this event coming up on October 12!  Check out his feature here, and if you live in central Illinois, consider a tintype portrait!

Saturday Night at Magellan’s by Charles Rafferty Fomite Press, 2013 Reviewed by Seana Graham Regular visitors to Escape Into Life may already be acquainted with the work of Charles Rafferty, as he is an EIL poet. I’ll give you a link to some of his work here at the end of this review. But it’s […]

Rapids, 8×10 tintype, 2013 Rapids 2, 8×10 tintype, 2013 Untitled, 8×10 tintype, 2013 Boat on lake, 8×10 tintype, 2013 Snow, 8×10, ambrotype, 2012 Mist on grass, 8×10 tintype, 2012 Countryside, 8×10 tintype, 2013 Kids at play, 8×10 tintype, 2013 Artist Statement As a photographer, I’m naturally drawn to portraiture. I believe it’s a perfect collaboration […]

Holly Friesen It’s Fall! Three poets are “falling for poetry” in the Washington, D. C. area this season, and two of them are EIL poets! Paulette Beete and Maureen Doallas will join Yahia Lababidi on October 27, for Falling For Poetry, a reading sponsored by Capitol Arts Network. It starts at 2:00 p.m., at 12276 […]

    Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto A Black Cat book from Grove Atlantic Reviewed by Seana Graham Have you ever gotten the completely wrong end of the stick about an author you haven’t read yet? Such was the case with my initial exposure to Banana Yoshimoto, pen name of Mahoko Yoshimoto (in English rather than […]

Her Vena Amoris by Carol Berg Red Bird Chapbooks, 2013 Review by Kathleen Kirk, Poetry Editor Carol Berg’s newest chapbook, Her Vena Amoris, goes after all the yearning, resentment, risk, confusion, frustration, and powerful love it takes to be a woman and a wife. Its organization lays it out for us beautifully: Part I contains […]

Sunset, acrylic, texturing medium, and varnish, 30″ x 40″, 2010 Eruption, metallic paint, texturing medium, and varnish,  24″ x 48″, 2012 A Paradox, texturing medium, acrylic/metallic paints, and varnish, 8″ x 24″, 2011 Growing Roots, texturing medium, acrylic/metallic paints, and varnish, 12″ x 48″, 2012 Lone Bare Tree, acrylic/metallic paints, texturing medium, and varnish, 30″ […]

Kelly Reemsten Watching Sheet Lightning From The Porch of Ann Paulson’s Cottage While Aretha Franklin Sings Inside The sky above the bay flares white, sustains it, gasps briefly black then goes for bright again, a mirror held up to the voice behind us. Feet up, tepid chablis in hand, we let passion by proxy wash […]

Speedboat, by Renata Adler Reviewed by Seana Graham  Renata Adler’s Speedboat was originally published in 1976 and it has been bouncing its way across the waters to us ever since. It has been on my radar but remained unread for a long time. I hadn’t realized that it has been out of print for many […]

Notes from the Journey Westward, by Joe Wilkins Reviewed by Kathleen Kirk, Poetry Editor Winner of the White Pine Press Poetry Prize Notes from the Journey Westward, by Joe Wilkins, reads like wisdom to me. “There’s nothing to be done / about hope,” he writes, in “Hardscrabble Prairie Triptych,” about cracking open mussel shells in […]

Monika Nguyen  It’s Labor Day in the United States, when we celebrate the achievements of American workers! Some of them get a holiday from work today, while others are working away relentlessly (in retail sales, for instance). And still other hard workers, many who never get a “holiday” from their labors, work on dutifully in […]

Alexander Korzer-Robinson Well, I had a plan this summer: to read and review a bunch of poetry books by EIL poets! Some I had requested for this purpose from the poets, some were given to me, and others I got hold of on my own. But, as John Lennon said in the song “Beautiful Boy […]

Amy Guidry Wolf Cento From this bleak hotel, & at the bored little forest, someone looks at me with the eyes of a wolf—domes shine out their darkgold— but I’m just tired like dead bees or numbers. All sleeping is a sinking down, all waking another sinking. Sometimes a door is opened that opening, letting […]