Erik Krenz is a wild life and pop culture artist who paints exclusively with acrylic paints. Visit him at erikkrenzprints.squarespace.com.
Erik Krenz
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Volume 31, Number 1, Spring 2026 (#121)
To purchase issue #121 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.
INTERVIEWS
Shangyang Fang: Words for Lost Music | Interviewed by Mathew Weitman
Jeremy M. Davies: The House Always Wins | Interviewed by Michael Ward
FEATURES
250 Years of American Literature: First in a Four-Part Series
Introductory Note | by Eric Lorberer
The New Life | by Gary Sullivan
An American Book(ish) Miscellany | compiled by Chris Barsanti
Would I Burn Palaces? The Poetry of Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt | by Stephanie Burt
Photographic Memory: William Henry Jackson and the American West | Bill Griffith | by Paul Buhle
PLUS: Cover art by Jamie Kalakaru-Mava
POETRY REVIEWS
Collected Poems of Stanley Plumly | Stanley Plumly | by Walter Holland
The Equestrian Turtle and Other Poems | César Moro | by Noah Hale
Even Time Bleeds | Jeannette L. Clariond | by Jeffrey Cyphers Wright
Equinox Island | Jean Fanchette | by Joel Hernandez
Ground Work: Poems 2020–2025 | Michael Daley | by Bethany Reid
Mandible Wishbone Solvent | Asiya Wadud | by Jami Macarty
Black Holes and Their Feeding Habits | Kiyoko Reidy | by Charley Eatchel
When the Horses | Mary Ellen Callier | by Dale Cottingham
I Do Know Some Things | Richard Siken | by Matthew Valades
Mother, Daughter, Augur | Mary Simmons | by Robert Eric Shoemaker
Second Line | Al Maginnes | by Peter Mladinic
FROM THE BACKLIST
The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gómez | John Rechy | by Erwin Kamuene
NONFICTION REVIEWS
A Treacherous Secret Agent: How Literature Spoke Truth to Power During the Red Scare | Marjorie Garber | by Zoe Berkovitz
Fawning: Why the Need to Please Makes Us Lose Ourselves—and How to Find Our Way Back | Dr. Ingrid Clayton | by Karen DeBonis
The Threshold and the Ledger | Tom McCarthy | by Nic Cavell
The Irish Goodbye: Micro-Memoirs | Beth Ann Fennelly| by Renée E. D’Aoust
Cat | Rebecca van Laer | by Mary Christine Kane
Mega Milk: Essays | Megan Milks | by Jillian Damiani
Marion Greenwood: Portrait and Self-Portrait: A Biography | Joanne B. Mulcahy | by Terese Svoboda
On Painting: Courses, March–June 1981 | Gilles Deleuze | by Ruby Sonnek
FICTION REVIEWS
The Land in Winter | Andrew Miller | by Steven G. Kellman
Crocosmia | Miranda Mellis | by Arien Wolf
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny | Kiran Desai | by Grace Utomo
Pillars of Creation | Carlos Nicolás Flores | by Rosa Martha Villarreal
Scenes of Life | Fatma Aliye | by M. Sevgi Sen
Fulfillment | Lee Cole | by Richard Klin
To purchase issue #121 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.
Analog Cave at Northern Spark 2013
EXTRAORDINARYa brief recap of ANALOG CAVE
I love the word “extraordinary.” We all know it means “beyond the ordinary,” but I like how it sneaks in the notion that simply having more of the ordinary could lead to something wondrous. This is what happened at the ANALOG CAVE project that we at Rain Taxi created with our pals at mnartists.org for the third annual Northern Spark festival, in which scores of art projects large and small took place from dusk to dawn.
Hosted in the heart of Northern Spark at Bedlam Theater, ANALOG CAVE was a two-part construction: in one enclosed “room” decked out with funky retro care, we invited the public to enter and use our writing prompts and tools (a manual typewriter, a wooden desk with stationary for letter writing, a turntable with a notepad for responses, and an erasure station piled with old books). The author placed their words through a mail slot in the wall; on the receiving end, editors read (and sometimes revised) the work. Next, a team of artists transformed the writing into a visual work at various stations of their own (a cartooning desk, an overhead projector, an easel, a chalkboard)—all on view to the public through Bedlam’s giant street-facing window.
Our goals in this project were manifold: we wanted to honor the spontaneity and energy of artistic creation, the universal impulse toward self-expression through language, and the more specific stylistic drive toward quality and transformation. That we had lines half the night to get in was a testament to the spirit we hoped to provoke with this “crowd-sourcing” project, and that some of the work—on both sides of the mail slot—was so damn good was thrilling. FYI, each art piece (and some of the original and edited texts!) is being photographed and posted to mnartists.org’s tumblr, MNMADE—an extension of the project that not only celebrates the unique artistry of ANALOG CAVE but one that we hope shows the creativity of the documentary impulse too.
I want to thank everyone listed below: especially our collaborators at mnartists.org for their generous, genuine, and fun process while we developed this concept together, the amazing artists that joined us to visualize others’ words from dusk to dawn, and the thousands of people that passed through ANALOG CAVE and contributed or marveled at the artistic feats being accomplished in real time.
— Eric Lorberer, Executive Director, Rain Taxi Review of Books
COORDINATORS AND ARTISTS
Rain Taxi:
Eric Lorberer
Kelly Everding
Robert Martin
Sarah Evenson
mnartists.org:
Scott Stulen
Susannah Schouweiler
Jehra Patrick
Chloe Nelson
participating artists:
Jack Walsh
Bridget Mendel
Steve Stwalley
Ken Avidor
Ryan Dow
Jajeev Nithiananda
Kayla Halberg
Nicholas Straight
Emma Gallenberg
Kirubel Tebeje
VISIT MNMADE.TUMBLR FOR MORE PICS!
And see here for more photos of some of the people and art from Analog Cave:
An Evening with Dessa and Friends
Sold-out audience waits for Dessa
Charismatic Dessa reads from her new chapbook, A Pound of Steam.
Aby Wolf performs a song inspired by "Dear Sir or Madam."
Sims answers a question from the audience. He took the inspiration for his song from Dessa's poem "Mercy."
Benjamin Burwell and Jake Pavek performed Dessa's poem "Kept Company" in the classical style.
Dessa treated the audience to a couple of songs from her new album, Parts of Speech.
Dessa signs copies of A Pound of Steam at the book signing.
Exuberant crowd waits to get their books signed.
Rain Taxi, in partnership with Dessa, is a fiscal year 2013 recipient of a Cultural Community Partnership grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature; and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Return to Readings Page
MINNESOTA ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR
Saturday, June 27, 2026 • 10am to 6pm • $5 entry
Minnesota State Fairgrounds, The North End Event Center
Rain Taxi is pleased to participate this year's Minnesota Antiquarian Book Fair! We’ll have all our chapbooks, broadsides, and other ephemera for sale at special prices, plus an assortment of cool used books, comics, and more. Come by and browse our tables and scores of others for whom printed matter… matters! Visit The Minnesota Antiquarian Book Fair for more details.
MARK NOWAK
Tuesday, May 12 • 7 pm
Moon Palace Books
3032 Minnehaha Ave, Minneapolis
Join us for a deep dive into 21st-century documentary poetry!
25 years ago, we hosted poet Mark Nowak in our reading series for his stunning first book Revenants. Join us as we welcome Nowak to the Rain Taxi stage again for his latest work, . . . AGAIN. Combining poetry and photographs, wordplay and sober documentation, . . . AGAIN looks at the depredations of capitalism and other societal ills in an attempt to make sense of a bitterly divided nation. At this special event, Nowak will read from . . . AGAIN, and then discuss the book in conversation with Rain Taxi editor Eric Lorberer.
About the Author:
Mark Nowak is one of America’s most innovative political poets. Heralded by Adrienne Rich for “regenerating the rich tradition of working-class literature,” his books include Revenants, Shut Up Shut Down, Coal Mountain Elementary, Social Poetics, and . . . AGAIN, all published by Coffee House Press. The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim, Lannan, and Creative Capital foundations, Nowak is founding director of the Worker Writers School, a sought-after speaker on documentary poetry, and author of the introduction to Celes Tisdale’s When the Smoke Cleared: Attica Prison Poems and Journal (Duke University Press, 2022).
(author photo by Lisa Arrastia)
Jamie Kalakaru-Mava
Jamie (Schumacher) Kalakaru-Mava is a visual artist and accomplished writer. Her written work has been featured by Pollen, the Star Tribune, and the Minnesota Women’s Press. Her book It’s Never Going to Work was released in 2018 and details the ups and downs of starting an arts nonprofit. (Spoiler: it did work, at least for a little while.)
Jamie received a master's degree in innovation in nonprofit management. She currently works with LISC Twin Cities, building the capacity of the more than two dozen cultural and creative districts of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Jamie currently lives in Bloomington with her partner, Nick, their two daughters, a rescue pup named Rufus, a still unnamed betta fish, and four chickens. While she is available for hire, she would also like to warn you that she dabbles in the dark arts with only limited success. Find out more at jamie-schumacher.com.
Rain Taxi at AWP Baltimore
March 5 - 7, 2026
Baltimore Convention Center
Baltimore, Maryland
Visit us at Table T649 in the AWP Bookfair!
As usual, Rain Taxi will be taking part in the annual AWP Conference & Bookfair, which this year takes place in Baltimore. Stop by our table to say hi, and see how we're celebrating 30 years of Rain Taxi with great deals on chapbooks and more. Plus become a member or renew your membership and receive a special gift!
Book Reviews & Literary Community:
Why Criticism Continues to Matter
Room 301, Level 300, Baltimore Convention Center
9:00 am to 10:15 am
Session code: T106
Rain Taxi editor Eric Lorberer will take part in a panel about book reviews. Fellow presenters include Alyse Bensel, Robin Becker, Elise McHugh, and Kathleen Rooney.
Click here to learn more.
2026 Rain Taxi Readings and Events
Mark Nowak
Tuesday, May 12, 2026, Moon Palace Books
Rain Taxi Review of Books hosted a conversation with poet Mark Nowak at Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis. Nowak read from his fifth book, titled . . . AGAIN, just published by Coffee House Press. Then, in conversation with Rain Taxi editor Eric Lorberer, Nowak discussed the inspiration behind the abecedarian poems, including political events over the course of the last ten years.
Twin Cities Independent Bookstore Day
Wednesday, April 22 through Sunday, April 26, 2026
Rain Taxi's annual Twin Cities Independent Bookstore Passport had its biggest year yet, with over 4,000 booklovers traveling to 38 participating stores! Readers used our free pocket-sized Passport to collect stamps; 287 people reached our challenge thresholds and entered to win more prizes than ever before. For a full recap and list of winners, visit our Passport web page here.
Rain Taxi at AWP Baltimore
Thursday, March 5 through Saturday, March 7
Rain Taxi attended the 2026 AWP Conference held in Baltimore, MD. Rain Taxi editor Eric Lorberer participated in in a panel about book reviews and literary community with Alyse Bensel, Robin Becker, Elise McHugh, and Kathleen Rooney.
Translating the World: Ed Bok Lee, Robert Hedin, and Kaija Straumanis
Tuesday, February 10, 2026, Magers & Quinn Booksellers; co-sponsored by Rain Taxi
Amidst continued winter chills and challenges in the Twin Cities, a standing-room only crowd gathered at Magers & Quinn Booksellers for an evening of literary translation, with three acclaimed translators presenting recently published works: Ed Bok Lee (Hail, Che! by Korean poet Pak Jeong-dae); Robert Hedin (The Mountains of Kong by Norwegian poet Dag T. Straumsvag); and Kaija Straumanis (The River by Latvian novelist Laura Vinogradova). The evening was moderated by Rain Taxi Review of Books editor Eric Lorberer, and began with a poem read by Ayub Iman, an undergraduate at Metro State University.
Click here to view the video recording of this event on our YouTube channel.
TRANSLATING THE WORLD
Ed Bok Lee, Robert Hedin, and Kaija Straumanis
in conversation
Tuesday, February 10, 2026, 7:00pm
Magers & Quinn Booksellers
3038 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis
Free and open to the public—Register here.
Join us for an evening focused on great literary translation, co-presented with Magers & Quinn Booksellers! Three Minnesota translators with new releases from Korean, Norwegian, and Latvian will read from and discuss their work, moderated by Rain Taxi editor Eric Lorberer.
About the Translators
Ed Bok Lee began writing poetry while in kindergarten in Seoul, South Korea; since then he has published three acclaimed books of poetry. His poems have been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Korean, and Chinese, and his honors include an American Book Award, an Asian American Literary Award, a Minnesota Book Award, and a PEN/Open Book Award. As a translator, Lee received the Modern Korean Literature Translation Grand Prize in Poetry; his translations have ranged from the prose of science fiction writer Anatoli Kim (Kazakstan/Russia) to Smiling in an Old Photograph: Poems by Kim Ki-taek and Hail, Che! by Pak Jeong-dae (South Korea). Lee teaches at Metro State University.
Robert Hedin is the author, translator, and editor of more than two dozen books of poetry. The recipient of many honors and awards for his work, he has taught at the University of Alaska, the University of Minnesota, St. Olaf College, and Wake Forest University. He is co-founder and former director of the Anderson Center at Tower View, a residential artist retreat in Red Wing, Minnesota.
Kaija Straumanis is an award-winning translator from the Latvian, and is the Editorial Director of Coffee House Press. Her translations include works by such authors as Inga Ābele, Jānis Joņevs, and Gundega Repše, among others. She received a 2020 NEA Literature Translation Fellowship for her work on Forest Daughters edited by Sanita Reinsone. Her most recent translation, The River by Laura Vinogradova, was longlisted for the 2026 PEN Translation Prize.