Yes, the United States is 250 years old. It should be celebrated, despite the darkness and social/political fractures we see on display on a daily basis.

One of my favorite poems has always been The New Colossus:

The New Colossus
By Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Think about the images in this poem and the atmosphere they create. A brazen giant is compared to the mighty woman with a torch aflame at “our sea-washed, sunset gates.” The strength and masculinity of a Greek god is juxtaposed with a woman who holds imprisoned lightning.

This image alone makes the reader think, “who is this powerful woman who can capture lightning?” Zeus himself would be angered by that. And then to transform that into a beacon that “Glows world-wide welcome.” She is a sorceress and a woman of open heart and warmth to take all who have been thrown away as waste, signaling that their worth is not defined by others and not defined by circumstance. They are worthy of a “golden door!”

See? Fireworks indeed.

Given this 250th birthday of the United States, I’d love to see how you can use imagery in creating a hopeful poem at the very list. But why not go all out and create your own fireworks display.

For subscribers, I’m including a word list with some prompts to get you started. Happy writing:

Read more

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley, narrated by Clare Corbett, Daphne Kouma, Julia Winwood, Sope Dirisu, Sofia Zervudachi, and Charlie Anson, is considered a locked door mystery, but don’t be fooled because people do leave these apartments.

Jess is on her way to visit her half-brother Ben in Paris after enduring the unwanted advances of her boss. She has little recourse. She was the child who bounced around from foster family to foster family, while Ben was selected for adoption by a richer family who only wanted one child. His charms won them over. It is clear that there is something amiss with Ben and how he interacts with the world. Even in this initial description of him by his half-sister, it is clear he looks out for himself.

When Jess arrives, Ben is not answering his phone and she has to tailgate behind someone who lives there and has an access code. Heading up to the apartment, Jess senses that something is wrong. Upon entering he is no where to be found. While she tells herself he must have gone out and will be back, it becomes increasingly clear that something he was working on as a journalist may have led to his disappearance.

Told in multiple points of view, Foley is introducing a number of suspects with their foibles, anger and addiction issues, and their unresolved trauma. Each neighbor adds a new perspective on Ben and his actions, with Nick, the nice guy, the one with the most to lose in the eyes of his father. None of these people are particularly nice to Jess and are not eager to answer her questions.

Everyone is hiding something, and Jess has to enlist outside help to uncover the mystery before it is too late. So, yes, Jess does leave the apartment, as do other characters - not a locked door mystery like I’ve read in the past. There also is no detective, unless you count Jess and Ben’s editor.

Subscribe now

What I liked was each character and story, what I wasn’t too happy with was Jess. She’s so naive for someone who has worked in seedy bars. How did she find herself drugged with a drink? Either it is a lack of sleep or all her savvy knowledge was just talk. She doesn’t really know her brother well, and honestly, it is hard to buy that she would invest so much time into the search. She barely knew him and he left her without a fight when they were kids after their parents died.

The mystery is intriguing, and unraveling it with these strange characters was fun. But at the same time, I think Alma Katsu’s The Fiend was more believable in its ending than this one. I’m not going to spoil it, but the ending was too neatly tied up!

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley is an enjoyable mystery with some crazy characters. I just wish the ending was more believable.

RATING: Quatrain

Share

Nevermore Bookstore by Kerrigan Byrne and Cynthia St. Aubin, narrated by Teddy Hamilton and Stella Hunter, gave off supernatural vibes with the hermit of a man living in the woods and a bookstore owner staying up late at night for a book order from a stranger. But this is not that book.

It’s an odd book about a bookstore owner, Cadence “Cady” Bloomquist, with health issues that can be debilitating. She has friends and is dating the sheriff of the town, but she always seems lonely. Books provide her some solace, but when “Fox” calls to leave his book order, she can’t help but feel flirty and connected. They talk about books, and while this may seem like a love connection, there is just something off about this mystery man.

Why does he only call at night? Why is he so cagey but loves talking about books and taking her recommendations even on romance-y novels?

While I wanted to believe in this romance, it just felt stalker-like to me. They way Roman Fawkes watches from the outside of the bookstore/house, when he inserts himself in her life without telling her who he is, and how he lets her fall in love with him even though he knows its a bad idea. I get the savior trope and damsel in distress, but this one didn’t work for me as well as I would have liked.

What I did like was the emphasis on people who have disabilities, and not necessarily ones that can be seen from afar. PTSD is a serious condition and it can lead people to withdraw from others. I wish this part of the story had been more developed. It was thin at best and relied on the bad-guy trope of one particular group of people. Yuck.

There are also these strange wordsmith-ed descriptions, one of which happens at the most inopportune moment and pulls you right out of the story and is bordering on racism.

Share

While I often like stories set in bookstores and small towns, this one was a mess and I just couldn’t believe what I was listening to at many points in the story. The mystery is too convoluted and then wrapped up in a hero-like moment at a counsel meeting. Seriously?

Nevermore Bookstore by Kerrigan Byrne and Cynthia St. Aubin could have been an excellent read, but wasn’t. I wanted more depth from these characters and this story. And the cover just sets the reader up for a story that isn’t here.

RATING: Epitaph

The Kensington reading also has an open mic.

Read more

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare, narrated by Jason Dohring (yes, that Jason Dohring) and Sophie Turner, is the final book in The Mortal Instruments series. Sebastian (aka Jonathan Morgenster…

Read more

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare, narrated by Molly C. Quinn, is the fifth book in The Mortal Instruments series. In this installment, Jace has been taken and his whereabouts are unknown, and th…

Read more

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare, narrated by Ed Westwick and Molly C. Quinn, is set after the Mortal War has ended, but that doesn’t mean shadowhunters are still needed. Clary has made the d…

Read more

The 2026 Gaithersburg Book Festival is May 16 at Bohrer Park from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

You can click the image above for the complete master schedule, but for your poetry needs check out the Edgar Allan …

Read more

Read more

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare, narrated by Natalie Moore, is the third installment in The Mortal Instruments series, and Valentine is back in Alicante in Idris, the home of the shadowhunters, with…

Read more

What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer opens with “Advice for Former Selves,” in which the poet-narrator says, “Revision is necessary.” It’s an opening poem that encapsulates much of womanhood. There are ch…

Read more

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare, narrated by Natalie Moore, is the second book in The Mortal Instruments series.

Read more

Time and Other Solvents: A Story of Healing by Claudia Gary is a collection of poems in which the poet tackles tough traumas with candor while rooted in current events at the time of each poem. Gary …

Read more

If…

Read more

Birds Flew In by Roderick Deacey, published by Sligo Creek Publishing, has a gorgeous cover that speaks to the poems within this slim chapbook. Birds fly into and through these poems in an overarchin…

Read more

blood on the map of man: a poem by Scott Ferry is a book length poem in which Ferry explores his humanity and connection the world and family around him. He opens with a poem that calls into question…

Read more

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, narrated by Ari Graynor, is the first book in The Mortal Instruments series, and I’m probably one of the last people to have listened/read any of these books. I digr…

Read more

Photo Credit: Hans Noel

Read more

Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, founder and executive director of the DC Poetry Project, Inc. and the creator and host of the Quintessential Poetry podcast, has been a deeply involved advocate for poets …

Read more

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is nearly an existential exploration of life and what it means to live. Nora Seed has a singular life, a cat, a fractured relationship with her brother, an emptiness…

Read more