The Missouri Review

Earlier this year I was contacted by first-time novelist Robert Eggleton, asking if I would review his forthcoming e-book.  If people knew how many requests of this kind editors get, they would understand that out of self-preservation we sometimes… well, I ignored the request.
Robert tried again.  There was something in the tone of his e-mail: […]

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[By Rebecca Dunham]
If I were to meditate upon literary matters today, one of the greatest delights that comes to mind is Jack Gilbert’s new book, Refusing Heaven. This is a roughly once-in-a-decade pleasure. Gilbert’s last book, The Great Fires, was published in 1994. As a testament to his popularity, it went through seven printings. It […]

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[By Kathryn Fishman]
We are going to Mars for the same reason Marco Polo rocketed to China,
For the same reason Columbus trimmed his sails on a dream of spices,
For the very same reason Shackleton was enchanted with penguins,
For the reason we fall in love,
It is the only adventure.
—from “Going to Mars,” by Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni thinks […]

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Each time I come into the office, I find them in my mailbox. Sometimes they’re shrink-wrapped. Sometimes they have nice notes from the publisher, sometimes just Review Copy printed across the cover. Six or eight books a week, I would guess, new collections of poetry, some of them with true significance—new […]

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