reviews
previous reviews here
strong opinions ahead
just where i post all my little reviews on the books or stuff i've consumed lately.
door = jar a literary magazine
i don't usually read literary magazines, or poetry collections by numerous authors so i was surprised by myself when i picked up this copy. in some moments, it totally astounded me. for first published poems and short stories, some hit my heart hard and i dog-eared the pages and highlighted them. some, though, were absolutely awful. poetry is subjective so you are welcome to disagree with me, but some of these are just too contrived. all in all, spring 2023 issue 26 was not wonderful. like i said, there are exceptions and beautiful pieces in this - but they are few and far between.
one of my favorites was "little death" by Rose Bedrosian. here i have transcribed it:
it is time to go to sleep.
stop smoking, and sing
yourself a lullaby.
now you must stop the deep
sorrow, the primal kicking,
the hollow urge to cry.
swallow down your drink
and breathe a prayer
or tell yourself a lie.
no matter what you think,
the world's unfair;
to sleep is just to die.
i really love that one. i think it was thoroughly well-executed, and a nice piece of prose. a majority of issue 26 was too self indulgent for my liking - taking the concept voiced in this one and turning it obscenely grand. if i were you, i would skip this issue but do check out Austin Fricke's Stella Gelata , a short nonfiction piece that i really, truly loved. all in all, i would give this issue of Door = Jar a 6.5/10.