HMS Press authors and poets for 2020, London Ontario

	My Coming of Age Review by Elana Wolff I.B. Iskov HMS Press, 2018, 48 pp ISBN: 978-1-55253-095-5 The forty-four poems in My Coming of Age-a chapbook with the inside-cover subtitle The Best of an Ongoing Collection of a Life Expressed in Poetry-represent I. B. (Bunny) Iskov's selection of previously published poems, most of which have received contest citations. The title poem, My Coming of Age-a riff on the fan-fiction mold, told as homage to The Beatles-aptly captures the poet's characteristic wry sense of humour and unshielded personableness in the face of life's swerves, curves, and world concerns. "The Beatles belonged to me / in my coming of age. It was a freer time / even though the Viet Nam war was raging, / even though there was unrest in the Middle East, / even though my parents were constantly fighting, / I had my Beatles record / to keep me safe and happy / when they sang All You Need Is Love ..." Bunny Iskov displays a discerning eye for the everyday, as captured in titles like Chronic Cough, Wringer Washer Warranty, and Ode to My Computer; genuine interest in the 'everyman' in poems like Trucker on the 401, Lucy and Desi, and Pamela for Mayor; and strong identification with her Jewish self in What Is a Jew, The Jewish Side of the Poem, and Be on Guard. An Iskov poem speaks with personal conviction and plainspoken pluck: "I am in charge," says the narrator in Bedtime Chimera; "My depression is a page in your book," she declares in As One Cradles Pain; "I remember the last time / I worked the street in high heels," she says tongue-in-cheek in the savvy-shopper piece, cleverly titled Cheap Love. There's a strong thread of sadness underlying the humour and juxtaposed easiness in many of these pieces. Humour is often a cover and a face for deep and complicated emotions, and it's clear that I.B. Iskov has the latter. She reveals her own Complicated Suffering and Personal Complexities; remembers and pays tribute to those who have gone to the other side: the beloved people's poet, Ted Plantos, in the surging opening poem What Plantos Meant to Poets Trapped Within Socio-Economic Boundaries; her girlfriends "Marilyn, Rhondi and Lolly" (lost to cancer) in Making Macaroni and Cheese; her mother in Memory and Loss; and the dead at large in When the Dead Do not Depart. In possibly the most touching and illuminating piece in the chapbook, Glass House, the poet writes: "I open my cabinet doors, / rearrange familiar figurines ... "I care for moments, dust them off, display them / on little easels. / I'm composed." This could be the artist's statement. She makes what she will of her life-delicately, deliberately and artfully, piece by piece. Wallace Stevens wrote that "the poet is the priest of the invisible." I submit that Bunny Iskov is the priestess of the visible. My Coming of Age is a collection that will let you know who I. B. Iskov is and what she stands for.
	field: haiku and senryu Review by George Swede kinshu ori (Ronda Wicks Eller) HMS Press, 2019, 36 pp. ISBN: 978-1-55253-083-2 A self-described “modern formalist poet” Ronda Wicks Eller has published her first collection of Japanese poetry—haiku, senryu and haikai (a sequence of haiku, senryu or both). The chapbook consists of 80 individual haiku and senryu (numbered making each one easy to refer to) as well as six haikai which include another 52 haiku/senryu. Overall, the collection is a delight to read whether one is a fan of the haiku and its relatives or not. Eller is careful to follow the conventions while at the same time contravening them if necessary, for example, she eschews 17 syllables and the 5-7-5 format whenever something else works better. Most of the poems brim with authenticity. Some are set in nature; others in social and political contexts. To put things into the vernacular of baseball—a Japanese passion—here are some of the poems that hit home runs. 2. 7. seamless rural view, feathery willows a pale blue-veiled horizon— shield spring nests— calm fertile woman the cradle gently rocks 13. 60. black on blue unquestioned dogmas crows mottle the horizon— dictate proper behaviour— a bruised thigh my child’s playpen 75. gutted old barracks— yesteryear’s construct is now a beetle bordello Eller also has a nice touch with humour— something that is too often missing in haiku and senryu collections. 17. 47. on stepping stones lying naked on the grass the heron lays lofty claim my butt cheeks glow to an island chain moon to moon 80. woeful first date she hugs goodbye to an octopus To sum up with the baseball metaphor—among the total of 132 haiku and senryu only a small number strike out. Ronda Wicks Eller has made an impressive debut. To order your copy, use PayPal on main page click on the link in the left column with the book title.
	Review by Becky Alexander Few books as apt a title as katherine Gordon's collection. These bittersweet poems awaken the primal urges in our sould to return to nature. The wild abandonment of her half-century abode in a sacred valley with birds, flowers, ancient rock, foxes, and wolves cannot equal the cool austerity of modern retirement living. Review by Chris Faiers the free spirit must not be caged for Katherine L. Gordon (on reading her "Caution: Deep Water'' Dear Katherine, this may be your best book yet your most important story the prisoning of a shaman spirit in a 'progressive' Canadian retirement home your saddest book, too it's all here - readers will feel your loss of the spirit visitors the ferny spreadings and season changes in your Spirit Valley A too true cautionary tale first word in your title CAUTION! Caution: Deep Water I, too, left my spirit valley retreated to a small village lot but your wisdom decrees when the retirement home beckons CAUTION!!!!! swim - swim far, far out into Lake Ontario this body will sink but the spirit owl shaman who invaded me long ago will rise and fly deep water is not the realm for free spirits Chris Faiers
	Book Review to Come
	Book Review to Come
	Book Review to Come
	Book Review to Come