A Review of Tara Campbell’s " Political AF: A Rage Collection," by Heidi Blakeslee

If I could tie ex-president trump down one time and force him to listen to someone reading him a book, it would be this one.  This book addresses the grievances that have been building up for centuries in the US.  In fact, I would pay someone to sit there and read it to him over and over again until he can’t remember his latest Rush Limbaugh propaganda and mitigates some of his brain damage.

Even just the titles of the poetry and prose inside are astute and visceral.  Ones like “Vessel of the State,” and “Shut up and Dribble,” cut right through the conservative claptrap and get to the heart of what’s important about issues like reproductive rights and race.

“Political AF: A Rage Collection” is the book that you should give your relatives for the holidays.  Be bold and let the questions and discussions that flow from this book awaken the people who need it and comfort the ones who desperately need kinship in this time of social distancing.

Some of the poetry inside is set up to mirror the ridiculous bureaucracy that holds up the judicial system and the scams featured in fine print that no one ever reads.  “US Government Form BC-451: Form to Procure Permission to Purchase Birth Control,” absolutely skewers the double standard that exists for the 1% vs the 99%.  Campbell illustrates the terrifying truth of the real “deep state,” and its agenda for women’s bodies.  Make no mistake, if there is a deep state to be had, it is the white supremacist garbage-mongers who are at the source of current Republican ideology.  Like a criminal prosecutor, Campbell illustrates the sick illogic that permeates current evangelical radicalism. 

 Using her poem “In Contradiction to the Commander’s Standards and Wishes” as a compass, we see that she sets her sights for moving forward squarely where they should be, “on science/ in consideration with community standards and wishes/ based on faith/ in reason/ in empathy/ in data/ in compassion/ in knowledge/ in questioning/ in resistance.

Tara Campbell is a fierce, fierce voice that stands up to ultra-conservative fascist propaganda.  I know I will remember this book and refer back to it time and time again.

Published by Unlikely Books. Available on Amazon

www.taracampbell.com is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, and fiction editor at Barrelhouse. She received her MFA from American University in 2019. Previous publication credits include SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review, Jellyfish Review, Booth, Strange Horizons, and CRAFT Literary. She's the author of a novel, TreeVolution, and three collections: Circe's Bicycle, Midnight at the Organporium, and Political AF: A Rage Collection.

Tara Campbell

A Review of Cee Williams’ "Poetry for Cats & all the other mortal things I couldn’t keep myself from loving" by Heidi Blakeslee

You know that feeling you get when you’re reading someone’s work and it just transports you to their time and place?  The words are pure and the voice is so strong you get pangs in your stomach.  When it’s so good you recognize parts of the writing as part of your own ephemera?  You just feel it?

Cee Williams’s “Poetry for Cats” is that chapbook.  As a person familiar with his work, this volume stands out for me as one that is special.  Not just because I love cats, though Cee’s warmth when writing and talking about animals can certainly give me bias.  No, not all of the poems are about cats, though animals are always a running theme in his poetry.  There is a richness to the lines as Cee lovingly and vividly describes characters he knows and has known.  

His voice is at once wise and true.  If you are in the mood for some perfectly polished work that will make your soul ache and your heart nod along in agreement, then this work is for you.  Every time I read this chapbook I sigh and think, “Damn, Cee, you did it again!”  

Psalm 68 Verse 9:

"Rain in abundance thou didst shed abroad; thou didst restore thy heritage as it languished."

As the rain falls

through the flowering pear

a whispered orison to veiled Orishas

lingers long enough to hold in fingers

crossed in hopeful supplication

quiet prayers imprisoned in despair

This book was published by Poet's Hall and is available from poet2thebone@gmail.com

Cee Williams is the founder of Poet’s Hall, the International Fellowship of Poets and Spoken Word Artists, in Erie, Pa.  He was also the Poet Laureate of Erie County from 2014-2016.  He is a poet, playwright, and producer with many published titles under his belt.  

Poet/Musician, Heidi Blakeslee, Joins GAS Staff as a Book Reviewer

Heidi Blakeslee is a writer, musician, and artist currently living near Pittsburgh, Pa.  She's been publishing work since the early 2000's.  She got her start in poetry performance at the Erie Bookstore, in Erie, Pa. in 2004.   She came up alongside writers like Thasia Anne, Chuck Joy, Cee Williams, Berwyn Moore, and Greg Brown.   She has published extensively with Alien Buddha and in many online poetry blogs like "Winedrunk Sidewalk," "Nixes Mate," and "Live Nude Poems."  She has written a memoir, two novels, and three poetry books, the latest of which is "Neurotica" with cover artwork, "My mind at midnight," by Belinda Subraman.

Musically, Heidi started the project "Emocat2380," or just "Emocat" for short, in January of 2020.  The music started out as simply a means of relaxing and staying sane during the craziest era our country has lived in for many decades.  The music manifests itself with synths, soft tones, early Nintendo-like soundscapes, and surprising layers of instruments and drums.  Emocat's mission is to create music for cats and the people who appreciate them.

Heidi's plans for the future include continuing to work with Emocat, writing book reviews for GAS, and finishing that darn niggling novel that begs for closure.  

She lives with her six cats and her partner James Trevison, who is also an artist and saxophone player.

Heidi's book is available on HERE.

real men snuggle cats

our jet black panther-cat, Weenie Beans

has taken ownership

of james

his belly in particular

he loves jumping on it and sitting there

kneading it

as he comforts down into

his home sense

sometimes he lies there for an hour

james pets him and we watch tv

real men accept head boops graciously

with eyes closed

and smiling

this is true

Weenie is a very loving cat

he gives boops with abandon

james rewards him with treats to reinforce

the behavior

he loves james and james loves him

an innocent joy

jim's at work now

and Weenie is laying on my back kneading my butt

why? who knows

his nails scratch through my dress

it isn't entirely comfortable

but i let him stay

such is love