first published in Misfit Magazine, Alan Catlin, ed. William Taylor Jr., The People Are Like Wolves to Me, Roadside Press, roadsidefam.com distributed by Magical Jeep, also available on Amazon, 2025, 85 pages, $17. If his poetry is to be taken literally, and there is no reason not to take him at his word, Taylor is a melancholy …
Category: Reviews
May 29
Richard Modiano reviews ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE: A ROADSIDE PRESS READER
first published at The Literary Underground’s In Conversation Roadside Assistance: A Roadside Press Reader edited by Dan Denton & Michele McDannold There’s something refreshingly unvarnished about Roadside Assistance: A Roadside Press Reader — a book that refuses polish in favor of presence. As the publisher’s note makes clear, this is not a curated “best of,” but a …
May 11
WITH HER HAIR ON FIRE by Christy Prahl reviewed in Calyx
“I am thankful for a poet who can thrust the worry, the guilt and too much caring out—and let in some sun, new air, some frank clarity through the sealed-up windows we use to protect ourselves. Be generous to yourself as a reader and add these poems into your day, your life, too.”—Ellen Stone Read …
Mar 24
Charles Rammelkamp reviews ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE: A ROADSIDE PRESS READER in the London Grip
It begins: “One of the bright spots of small press publishing during the decade of the 2020s has been Roadside Press and its consistently impressive offerings. While in the Introduction to Roadside Assistance the editors insist that the anthology is not meant as a “best of” or “greatest hits” collection, the prose and poetry pieces included in …
Feb 06
On Having No Head: Johnny Cordova’s The Broken Buddha reviewed by Richard Collins
first published in Rat’s Ass Review https://ratsassreview.net/?page_id=4452 ON HAVING NO HEAD: JOHNNY CORDOVA’S THE BROKEN BUDDHA ( ROADSIDE PRESS, 2026 ). One of the best books on Buddhism I ever read is Douglas Harding’s On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious. I was reminded of this when reading Johnny Cordova’s forthcoming first book of poetry, …
Jan 26
Collected Poems 2005-2025 by Michele McDannold reviewed by Dan Denton
Collected Poems 2005 – 2025 by Michele McDannold: a sort of review by Dan Denton About halfway through Michele McDannold’s Collected Poems, I stopped and went back to the beginning. I’d noticed such a wide range of topics and issues confronted by her poetry that I wanted to start over and write them all down. …
Dec 14
Richard Modiano reviews COLLECTED POEMS 2005-2025 by Michele McDannold
first published at The Literary Underground’s IN CONVERSATION McDannold, Michele (2025). Collected Poems 2005-2025 (Poetry Collection) Roadside Press 279p. $20.00 (Paperback) Michele McDannold’s Collected Poems 2005–2025 is a bruising, beautiful chronicle of two decades lived on the raw nerve of experience. The voice here is equal parts survivor, witness, and outlaw philosopher—one who has been scorched by the world’s …
Dec 02
THIS IS WHERE YOU ARE by Nicholas Claro reviewed by Alan Catlin
first published in Misfit Magazine, Editor Alan Catlin Nicholas Claro, This Is Where You Are, Roadside Press, www.roadsidefam.com distributed by www.magicaljeep.com, 2025, 155 pages, $18 Claro’s first book comes burdened with a blurb , “reminiscent of Raymond Carver’s classic story collections” and “In the tradition of Carver and Dubus.” I say burdened as those two guys are the masters of …
