Uncategorized

The Mariner's Mirror

poems by Damion Searls

$10 plus $4 shipping in U.S., $10 international shipping
36 pages, perfect bound
published 2025

Sailing on a sea of language, renowned translator Damion Searls here offers his first gathering of original poetry—and steers his sturdy craft on a voyage at once abstract and dappled with specificity, a watery suite that captures the nuances of one reader’s journey through books. Haunted by voices and printing techniques, and with nothing but beauty as his North Star, Searls accomplishes the poet’s dream: He holds up the mirror and tells us what it feels like to be him.

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International Purchase

About the author

Damion Searls, one of the most admired and prolific literary translators of our day, has translated books from German, Norwegian, French, and Dutch by dozens of classic modern writers, including Proust, Rilke, Robert Walser, Ingeborg Bachmann, Uwe Johnson, Ariane Koch, and eight Nobel Laureates, including Jon Fosse. He is also the author of The Philosophy of Translation, The Inkblots (a history of the Rorschach Test and biography of its creator), and the story collection What We Were Doing and Where We Were Going; his first novel, Analog Days, will be published in fall 2025 by Coffee House Press. Visit him at damionsearls.com.

Volume 29, Number 4, Winter 2024 (#116)

To purchase issue #116 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

INTERVIEWS

Tara Campbell: Digging, Dancing Gargoyles | interviewed by Allison Wyss
Wendy Chen: Honor the Past While Making the Future Our Own
| interviewed by Michael Prior
V. Joshua Adams: To Speak in More Than One Voice | interviewed by Ken Walker

FEATURES

PLUS: Cover art by Alex Kuno

FICTION REVIEWS

NONFICTION REVIEWS

POETRY REVIEWS

ART/COMICS REVIEWS

To purchase issue #116 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

Ziba Rajabi

*Ashk (Tear)*
Acrylic on Muslin and Canvas, Found Fabric, Thread

Ziba Rajabi (b.Tehran, Iran) received her MFA from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and her BFA from the Sooreh University, Tehran, Iran. Her primary practice is focused on painting, drawing, and fabric-based installation. She is the recipient of the Jerome Foundation Mid-Career Artists Fellowship and the Artist 360 Grant, a program sponsored by the Mid-America Arts Alliance. Her work has been included in a number of exhibitions, nationally and internationally, such as Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; AR, CICA Museum; South Korea; Masur Museum; LA; 21C Museum, AR; Conkling Gallery Minnesota State University, MCAD Gallery, MN; Araan Gallery, Iran; The II Platform, UK, among many others. She has been an artist in residence at Vermont Studio Center, Terrain Residency, and Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Visit her at zibarajabi.art.

Twin Cities Independent Bookstore Passport 2025

Rain Taxi’s Twin Cities Literary Calendar is once again publishing its pocket-sized Twin Cities Independent Bookstore Passport—and offering readers fun ways to visit the stores and win discounts and prizes. Our annual Bookstore Passport celebrates both Independent Bookstore Day (this year taking place on April 26, 2025) and our metropolitan area’s bounty of great community-based bookstores!

Illustrated by local artist Kevin Cannon, the Passport is FREE to pick up at any participating store between Wednesday, April 23, 2025 and Sunday, April 27, 2025. During these five days, travel to as many participating Twin Cities area bookstores as you can, because you can get your Passport stamped at each store you visit during that time span for a future discount at that store and a chance to win great prizes!

We encourage you to share your bookstore journey on social media and to tag us (@raintaxireview) on Instagram, Facebook, or X.

Thanks and best wishes on your travels with the Twin Cities Independent Bookstore Passport!

How It Works

While this Passport can serve as a year-round guide, from Wednesday, April 23 to Sunday, April 27, Rain Taxi and the stores invite you to get your pages stamped! Each stamped page becomes a future discount coupon, and collecting ten or more can earn you even more perks:

10+ stamps

Activate all coupons!

Get your Passport stamped at 10 or more bookstores by Sunday, April 27, and ask the 10th one to stamp the special page in the back of your Passport to activate all 37 coupons — you’ll have savings for months to come!

20+ stamps

Enter to win a Prize Pack of treasures from our sponsors!

Get your Passport stamped at 20 or more bookstores by Sunday, April 27, and ask the 20th one to stamp the special page in the back of your Passport. Then follow the instructions there to enter the Prize Pack drawings!

30+ stamps

Enter to win the Grand Prize: $25 gift cards to twelve independent bookstores!

If you visit 30 or more participating stores by Sunday, April 27, ask the 30th one to stamp the special page in the back of your Passport. Then follow the instructions there to enter the Grand Prize drawings!

Participating Stores

There are 37 great bookstores participating in the Passport this year. Visit each link for their open hours, and for an interactive Google map, see below!

Against the Current
Babycake’s Book Stack
Big Hill Books
Birchbark Books
Black Garnet Books
Black Letter Books
Boneshaker Books
Book House in Dinkytown
Chapter One
Chapter2 Books
Comma, a bookshop
Cream & Amber
DreamHaven Books & Comics
Eat My Words
Excelsior Bay Books
Inkwell Booksellers Co.
Lake Country Booksellers
Magers & Quinn Booksellers
Mayday Books
Midway Book
Milkweed Books
Moon Palace Books
Next Chapter Booksellers
Niche Books
Once Upon A Crime
Paperback Exchange
Red Balloon Bookshop
Story Line Books
Strive Bookstore
Subtext Books
The Thinking Spot
Tropes & Trifles
Uncle Hugo’s/Uncle Edgar’s
University of Minnesota Bookstores
Valley Bookseller
The Vintage Storyteller
Wild Rumpus Books

Prizes

Readers who obtain at least 20 stamps can enter to win a Prize Pack full of treasures from our sponsors! Prize Pack details TBA.

Three lucky Grand Prize winners will receive $25 gift cards to twelve of the participating bookstores — a $300 value!

How to Enter

If you have obtained 20+ stamps, email a picture of the challenge stamps page near the back of your Passport to calendar [at] raintaxi [dot] com, including in the email your name and city/state of residence, by end of day on Monday, April 28, or tear it out and mail on Monday, April 28, to Rain Taxi, PO Box 3840, Mpls MN 55403 with your email address and name included. Winners will be notified by email on Friday, May 2.

ALEX KUNO

Alex Kuno is an artist and illustrator living and working out of his studio in the Lowertown arts district in Saint Paul. He’s currently working on two solo shows, opening in Seattle in December and Philadelphia in March of 2025. See more on Instagram @alexkuno; Etsy.com/shop/AlexKunoArtwork; and Alexkuno.bigcartel.com.

A Minnesota Book(ish) Miscellany

An essential reference for any booklover!

46 pp, perfect bound
published 2024

Minnesota is famous as a haven for literary genius. In this miscellany, you’ll find many of the puzzle pieces that explain why—from eclectic lists to booksellers of uncommon distinction to a writers hall of fame, this compilation is guaranteed to inform, annoy, and delight!

$10 plus $4 shipping (Domestic U.S.)

$10 plus $10 shipping (International)

About the Compiler:

Chris Barsanti is a writer, editor, and consultant. He is the author of several books including Six Seasons and a Movie: How Community Broke Television (co-written with Brian Cogan and Jeff Massey) and the creator of The Writer’s Year Page-A-Day Calendar 2025. A member of National Book Critics Circle and the Online Film Critics Society, Barsanti writes on the semi-regular for Publishers Weekly, The Minnesota Star Tribune, Slant Magazine, Rain Taxi Review of Books, and PopMatters. He also writes about movies at Eyes Wide Open and has been published in places such as the Chicago Tribune, In These Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Millions.

JEFFREY BROWN

Saturday, November 2, 4:00 pm
Lake Monster Brewing
550 Vandalia St, St Paul, MN 55114
Download a flyer for this event!

This event is free and open to the public and a reception will follow!

Join us for some afternoon fun with the Eisner Award-winning, New York Times bestselling cartoonist Jeffrey Brown, who will treat us to a presentation on his new release this fall: Kids Are Still Weird And More Observations from Parenthood. In this book for readers of all ages, Brown offers sweet and surreal anecdotes from his life as a parent, comics that capture how curious, hilarious, and yes, weird, kids can be. When he was a kid, Jeffrey dreamed of growing up to draw comics for a living, and now he’s living that dream! Don’t miss this afternoon of fun with a comics legend. Book sales of Kids Are Still Weird and other titles by Jeffrey Brown will be available onsite thanks to Red Balloon Bookshop, and Brown will sign books in a reception after his presentation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeffrey Brown is the bestselling author of the Darth Vader and Son and Jedi Academy series, as well as numerous other books, including middle grade comics (his Lucy & Andy Neanderthal was 40,000 years in the making), humorous superhero books (most recently Batman and Robin and Howard), relatable observational comics (Cats Are Weird), adult graphic memoirs (Clumsy, Unlikely), irreverent parodies (Incredible Change-Bots), and imaginative tributes (My Teacher Is A Robot).

Volume 29, Number 3, Fall 2024 (#115)

To purchase issue #115 using Paypal, click here .
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

INTERVIEWS

Charlotte Mandell: The Immense Noise of Céline’s War | interviewed by Barbara Roether
Sally Franson: Big in Sweden | interviewed by Margaret LaFleur
Leslie Sainz: Shedding Histories: Cubans in Exile | interviewed by Olivia Q. Pintair

FEATURES

The New Life | a comic by Gary Sullivan
In Memoriam: Paul Auster | by Dennis Barone
In Memoriam: John Barth | by Neal Lipschutz
In Memoriam: Jerome Rothenberg | by John Bradley
A Look Back: Anthony Heilbut’s The Fan Who Knew Too Much | by Richard Kostelanetz

PLUS: Cover art by JoAnn Verburg

NONFICTION REVIEWS

Like Love: Essays and Conversations | Maggie Nelson | by Jeff Bursey
Cactus Country | Zoë Bossiere | by Erica Watson
Lessons from the Climate Anxiety Counseling Booth: How to Live with Care and Purpose in an Endangered World | Kate Schapira | by Anna Farro Henderson
The Mango Tree: A Memoir of Fruit, Florida, and Felony | Annabelle Tometich | by Mark Massaro
Liberty Street: A Savannah Family, Its Golden Boy, and the Civil War | Jason K. Friedman | by Mike McClelland
Rabbit Heart: A Mother’s Murder, a Daughter’s Story | Kristine S. Ervin | by George Longenecker

FICTION/MIXED GENRE REVIEWS

POETRY REVIEWS

COMICS REVIEWS

My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Book Two | Emil Ferris | by Paul Buhle

To purchase issue #115 using Paypal, click here .
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

JoAnn Verburg

JoAnn Verburg’s current exhibit, Aftershocks, can be viewed at the Minneapolis Institute of Art through January 12, 2025. Click here for more info.

JoAnn Verburg received a BA in sociology from Ohio Wesleyan University and an MFA in Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology. From 1977 to 1979, she served as the research director and photographer for the Rephotographic Survey Project, traveling throughout the American West to replicate the same wilderness views made by 19th-century frontier photographers. While heading Polaroid’s Visiting Artist Program in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Verburg promoted technical innovation in the photographic field by inviting artists Chuck Close, Andy Warhol, William Wegman, and Jim Dine, among others, to experiment with new large format instant cameras.

Distinguished by its extraordinary sensitivity to the energy and sensuality of the natural world, Verburg’s own photographic work combines exquisite color, varied focus, and thoughtful composition to convey the beauty of its subject and setting. Often presented as diptychs and triptychs, her images of olive groves near her home in Spoleto, to which she has returned for over 30 years, envelop the viewer in a serene, dreamlike atmosphere and explore the passage of time both literally and figuratively. Verburg lives and works in Minneapolis and Spoleto, Italy. Visit her website for more info.

Stories and Poems of a Class Struggle and One Impossible Step

Stories and Poems of a Class Struggle
Historias y poemas de una lucha de clases
Roque Dalton
Translated by Jack Hirschman and Barbara Paschke
Seven Stories Press ($18.95)

One Impossible Step: Selected Poems
Orides Fontela
Translated by Chris Daniels
Nightboat Books ($17.95)

by Patrick James Dunagan

At first glance, not much connects the work of poets Roque Dalton (1935–1975) from El Salvador and Orides Fontela (1940–1998) from Brazil. Dalton, a committed revolutionary in the armed struggle leading up to his country’s civil war, writes poems in the direct, colloquial expression of everyday people—they are not didactic, yet they do wear their political and social concerns on their sleeves. Fontela’s poems, on the other hand, are far more hermetic; elusive, abstract, and philosophical. And of course, Fontela writes in Portuguese, Dalton in Spanish. Yet the two are contemporaries whose work responds to social conditions during turbulent times.

Looking at these two disparate poets together—that is, reading them through each other’s lenses—enhances the parameters with which the work of each might be framed. Dalton becomes more philosophical, while Fontela gains in political gravity. Take a short poem by each. Here is one of Fontela’s “Seven Bird Poems”:

We’ll never know
such purity:
bird devouring us
while we sing it.

And this is Dalton’s “Poetic Art 1974”:

Poetry
Forgive me for having helped you understand
you’re not made of words alone.

In each case, the poet addresses their art, Dalton directly and Fontela through the archetypal image of a bird. While Fontela uses the universal “we”—as translator Chris Daniels notes, “Fontela almost never wrote the word ‘eu,’ the subjective form of the Portuguese first-person singular pronoun”—Dalton maintains an intimate “I-Thou” relationship, asking forgiveness for expanding poetry’s knowledge of itself. In both cases, the power of poetry to reach beyond language’s supposed meaning is stressed, albeit from opposing perspectives. Dalton implies the revolutionary context of his poem by including the year in the title, suggesting that poetry has a role to play in a time of cultural unrest and armed struggle, but Fontela also rejects the supposed rarification of poetry—“such purity”—in favor of the more active, even violent, “devouring us” that is within the art form’s transformative power. And while different in tone, both poems extol how poetry can elevate our ability to conceive the world anew.

Drawing from all of Fontela’s collections of poetry, One Impossible Step represents not only the broadest translation of her corpus into English, but, at only 130 pages, it also operates as a compact overview of her biography and poetics. Daniels (who has also translated Pessoa among other Lusophone authors) ingeniously includes some twenty pages of excerpts from three interviews with Fontela, and Brazilian poet Ricardo Domeneck contributes a succinct afterword that assesses the trajectory of her life and work. Domeneck describes Fontela as

A person who owned no property, who felt neither the need nor the desire for a love relationship, perhaps [she] was uninterested in praising anything but oxygen. Perhaps her poverty led her to abandon adornment and poetic beautification. . . . demonstrat[ing] the linguistic attention of a post-war poet living a historical moment that demanded, in the use of symbols, an awareness of their being signs.

Dalton is much better known to U.S. readers; an earlier edition of this very book, published in the early 1980s under the title Poemas Clandestinos/Clandestine Poems, went through multiple printings. Now released as Stories and Poems of a Class Struggle as the first of a several Dalton translations to be issued over the coming years, it is actually the last, likely unfinished, work of Dalton’s; it comprises five sets of poems by distinct “authors” invented by the poet (though these pseudo-pseudonymous characters are nothing on the scale of Fernando Pessoa’s heteronyms). It’s unclear quite what Dalton had in mind by casting his voice into different personas, yet perhaps it is more important to draw attention to what these figures have in common: a belief in the necessity of cultural revolution and the use of poetry as a means towards that end. An opening “Declaration of Principles” signed by “the authors” closes by stating that the “enemy poet” (as opposed to the “servant poet” or “clown poet”) must have “a lucid and invincible confidence in the working class” and engage in “direct participation in its struggle.”

Fontela came from the working class, went to school to study philosophy on a scholarship, scraped by as a teacher, then “died in a public hospital in 1998, without a close family, destitute as a poet.” Dalton’s father was an American who financially provided for his education; he traveled internationally, spent time in Cuba honing his belief in communism and guerilla skills, and was tragically murdered in 1975 at the hands of his fellow revolutionaries in El Salvador , a victim of political infighting. Despite the vast differences in their lives, however, both poets created a body of literature hinged upon life—and because of this, these new translations of their work into English are vital.

Click below to purchase these books through Bookshop and support your local independent bookstore:

Book Review, Uncategorized

poems by Damion Searls

$10 plus $4 shipping in U.S., $10 international shipping36 pages, perfect boundpublished 2025

About the author

INTERVIEWS

FEATURES

FICTION REVIEWS

NONFICTION REVIEWS

POETRY REVIEWS

ART/COMICS REVIEWS

Thanks and best wishes on your travels with the Twin Cities Independent Bookstore Passport!

How It Works

Participating Stores

Prizes

How to Enter

Sponsors

An essential reference for any booklover!

$10 plus $4 shipping (Domestic U.S.)

$10 plus $10 shipping (International)

About the Compiler:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTERVIEWS

FEATURES

NONFICTION REVIEWS

FICTION/MIXED GENRE REVIEWS

POETRY REVIEWS

COMICS REVIEWS

JoAnn Verburg’s current exhibit, Aftershocks, can be viewed at the Minneapolis Institute of Art through January 12, 2025. Click here for more info.

$10 plus $4 shipping in U.S., $10 international shipping
36 pages, perfect bound
published 2025