Post your 2025 Reviews in this forum: How to write a review

[Jen]

Copied and pasted from last year's well-written post by the woman who created this group:

Hi all,

You can (and should!) add reviews for 2025 here. You do this by clicking on the sub-heading "2025 Review" and choosing "new topic."

We like reviews of books, chapbooks & anthologies. As ever, reviews don't have to be long or examine the poetry in depth. It's not a contest! You could look at a theme, or diction, subject matter, imagery, form, word choice, or emotional effect. Whatever you like. Or pick a poem you liked & talk about that.

If a collection didn't appeal to you, we'd be interested to hear about that, too. Try to be balanced. Just because you disliked it doesn't mean the collection is without value. I'm not big on Gerald Manley Hopkins, but no reflection on him. Aside from being fair, there's no need to dress up your reaction. You don't have to feel pressured to be insincere because so-and-so is the editor of MegaFamous Annual & you're hoping to have a piece accepted there. If you're uncomfortable, don't review!

And don't be shy about reviewing a book because someone else already has. Do it. It's so interesting to get someone else's perspective.

We especially love links to poem(s) from the book!

Happy reading.

[Jen]

I just want to point out how flexible Sarah was in her definition of what constitutes a review. Sometimes you might feel like writing something lengthy and sometimes you might just want to write a sentence or two.

For people who like to follow a form or just need a jump start, here's something to try:

1. A 3 star rating (1=Didn't like it. 2=it was okay, 3=I liked it),
2. Theme(s)/subjects(s): None or blank is a valid answer. If there is one, provide a simple list of 1-3 words describing it.
3. Tone/mood(s): 1-3 words describing the general mood.
4. Language/characteristics of the poetry: 1-3 words describing (such as plain, alliterative, dynamic, academic, gritty, formal, short or long, dense or spare, whatever suits).
5. Basic thoughts/impressions: 1-3 sentences.

I hope this will help people provide reviews who don't have the time, energy or brain power to write something more elaborate (feel free to modify it). We're interested in hearing about what you've read and whether you liked it. If we want further details, we can ask in a comment to your post.

Happy reviewing!