Five Poems Published by Synchronized Chaos

 Five of my poems, Hiraeth, A Berserker's Meditation, Being, Interim Ethic, and Grammarian's Nightmare have just been published by Synchronized Chaos. Thank you to the editor, Cristina Deptula. Here is the link: https://synchchaos.com/poetry-from-dennis-daly/

The Shredder

 The Shredder—A Memory

 Given the first two alternatives, a room in the Mustapha Hotel almost made sense. The room I had booked at the Intercontinental had been hit by a missile. The second room or, rather, compound, formerly occupied by Osama Bin Laden, turned out to be an inside joke hatched up between my translator and my driver.

 Frequented by serious journalists, UN staffers, NGO employees, and clandestine types, the Mustapha seemed perfect. Among its assets was a rooftop dining area overlooking the city and an illegal bar serving cold German beer on tap. We were assured that the Taliban, government officials, and some religious leaders were sufficiently bribed. The liabilities included no continuous security and the institution’s questionable walls.

 Understanding the need for office space to accommodate the influx of Westerners, the owners had installed floor to ceiling glass partitions. Later, when priorities changed, the partitions were painted over and converted into hotel room walls. What could possibly go wrong?

 Days after I had checked in, the hotel management braced itself after being threatened by a would-be suicide bomber. Armored vehicles patrolled outside. Black humor proliferated. If an explosion happened, the physics suggested the shredding of all unsuspecting (and some suspecting) guests within these glass-walled rooms.

 As soon as practicable, we left, driving north into the relative safety of the towering and now less forbidding Hindu Kush mountains.

Review of I Ain't Gonna Wait For Godot, No More

 Doug Holder doesn’t beat around the bush. His poetry grabs you with its pent-up gusto and bohemian worldview. Maddening at times. Falling-down funny. Sad, beyond troubling. Ravenous. A direct poetic descendent of Ginsberg, Corso, and Huncke, this poet today stands alone in his alternate universe with his off-kilter, gritty observations. In his new collection, I Aint Gonna Wait For Godot No More, Holder wanders over the creaking floorboards of his poetic offerings confronting existential questions and supplying make-do answers. Mortality and meaning lurk between his insistent lines. For more of my review of I Ain't Gonna Wait For Godot No More go here: https://dougholder.blogspot.com/2025/07/i-aint-gonna-wait-for-godot-no-more.html

Poetry Reading at the Phinista Cafe July 17th

I will be reading poetry at the Phinista Cafe on July 17th at 7 PM. with four other fine poets: Doug Holder, Gloria Mindock, Peter Brown, and Philip Nikolayev. The readings will be followed by an open mic. The Phinista Cafe is located at 186 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140.

Review of Hard Up by M.P. Carver Published by Wilderness House

 My review of M.P. Carver's Hard Up has been published in the Summer Issue of Wilderness House Literary Review. Here is the link: https://www.whlreview.com/no-20.2/review/DennisDaly.pdf 

Eleven of my Metaphysical Commentaries Published

Eleven of my Metaphysical Commentaries (a sequence of 154 quatrains) have been published by Wilderness House Literary Review. Thank you to Ravi Yelamanchilli, the Poetry Editor, and Steve Glines, the publisher, novelist, poet, and book designer extraordinaire. Here is the link: http://www.whlreview.com/no-20.2/poetry/DennisDaly.pdf

My Poem Carousel Published by Asses of Parnassus

Somehow I missed this. It was published earlier in the year. Carousel is part of my 154 poem sequence entitled Metaphysical Commentaries. Thank you to the Asses of Parnassus and its terrific editor Brooke Clark.  Here is the link: https://www.tumblr.com/assesofparnassus/774754232614240256/carousel?source=share

Poetry Reading at the Phinista Cafe Cancelled/ Rescheduled

 The poetry reading for tonight at the Phinista Cafe has been cancelled. The A/C broke. Rescheduled for July 17th at 7 PM.

Review of Hard Up by M.P. Carver

Calliope rules the world of heroic poetry. Even collections of short heroic poetry motivated by injustice. Whatever the intent of the poet, this muse waits for her opportunity to intervene, to alter, to charm. When reading M.P. Carver’s latest chapbook, Hard Up, one delights in the counterpoint between musical expression and poetical grievance. Carver’s (and her muse’s) ability to transcend down-and-out situations with humor and the necessary concomitant irony inspires. It inspires so much that the political point of her art becomes secondary to her admirable persona and descriptive magic. For more of my review of Hard Up go here:  https://dougholder.blogspot.com/2025/06/hard-up-by-mp-carver.html

Poetry Reading June 19th Cancelled

 I will be reading my poetry on June 19, 2025, 7PM to 9 PM at the Phinista Cafe at 1876 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA. with three other excellent poets-- Gloria Mindock, Doug Holder, and Philip Nikolayev. Following the reading there will be an open mic. Rescheduled for July 17th.

Past Reviews of Twenty-One Ghazals

Looking back, I had three lovely reviews of  Twenty-One Ghazals, all of which I very much appreciated. Here are the links:

http://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/73844

http://dougholder.blogspot.com/2016/12/gifts-from-samarkind-by-ed-meek-review.html

http://dougholder.blogspot.com/2017/06/twenty-one-ghazals-alisher-navoiy.html?spref=fb

 

My Poem Transubstantiation Published

 Thank you to Amethyst Review and its wonderful editor, Sarah Law, for publishing Transubstantiation. Here is the link: https://amethystmagazine.org/2025/05/12/transubstantiation-a-poem-by-dennis-daly/ 

My Quatrain Aftermath published by Molecule

 Thank you to editors M.P. Carver and Kevin Carey for publishing my poem (quatrain) Aftermath in Molecule, a tiny, but wondrous, little mag. Here is the link for Issue 12. https://moleculetinylitmag.art.blog  The piece is on page 37. 

Review of Speaking for Everyone, An Anthology of "We" Poems

 Use of the third person plural in poetry not only draws the writer away from the overly fashionable confessional style of versifying but adds a sense of universality and transcendence to the word-craft. The ability to connect the emotions and thoughts of a multitude suggests either deep arrogance (in bad poetry) or collective insight and consciousness (in good poetry). There are obvious pitfalls. For instance, “we” could simply be used as a metaphor for “I.” Or the writer may project his revelations onto others without any real sapience. Eric Greinke’s masterfully edited anthology entitled Speaking For Everyone avoids the pitfalls of this genre and, in his inspired choices of good poetry, bonds together the fears and hopes and commonalities inherent in the nature of mankind. For more of my review of Speaking for Everyone go here:  https://dougholder.blogspot.com/2025/02/speaking-for-everyone-anthology-of-we.html

Recent Interview of Me by Marcus Breen on Boston Media Theory

On Tuesday, February 11th Marcus Breen, a professor of communications at Boston College, interviewed me on his local TV show Boston Media Theory (NewTV in Newton MA). At the end of the discussion I read a couple of my union poems: The Electrician and Rat-Friend. Here is the YouTube link:

 https://youtu.be/o3UPr6_IVko

My Poem, Lines Written for Thomas Merton, Published

 My poem, Lines Written for Thomas Merton, was just published in Lyrical Somerville. Thank you to Doug Holder, the editor. Here is the link: https://www.thesomervilletimes.com/archives/138428

Recorded Grolier Poetry Reading

 Here is the link for the Grolier Poetry Book Shop Poetry Reading Held on October 2, 2024. Tom Daley hosted. I am the third and final reader (two thirds into the YouTube program):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yFeycJGsdA

Review of Homage by Kathleen Spivack

Spanning oceans and multiple generations, Homage, Kathleen Spivack’s newest collection of poems, delivers a movable feast of poets and other influencers of her estimable artistry. Spivack’s narratives celebrate famous poets, musicians, painters, and booksellers, many of whom she personally knew and some before her time, as well as teachers, a lighthouse keeper, and other oddly interesting individuals.

 Each of these poems seem perfectly weighted, upbeat, and toned with appreciation and even affection. Not an easy task given the ever-present and dark backstories of some of these fraught individuals. For more of my review of Homage go here:  https://dougholder.blogspot.com/2024/12/homage-by-kathleen-spivack.html

Review of The Biographer by David M. Katz

 Spectral power belongs to ages and cultures long past. But here and there evidence emerges of its elusive endurance in the form of poetic techniques such as projection and personalization. Here imagination (Cotton Mather aficionados take notice) provides the proper venue with insight, empathy, and understanding as value added attachments. In his new book of poetry, The Biographer, David M. Katz haunts his set of chosen characters with his mnemonic underpaintings. He merges his rich emotional values with the objective facts of his characters, real or fictional. For more of my review go here: https://dougholder.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-biographer-poems-by-david-m-katz.html

Reading at Grolier Book Shop

Thank You Grolier Poetry Book Shop for inviting me to read on October 2nd with two other excellent poets: Ann Taylor and Dianne Silvestri. Also thank you to Tom Daley for hosting and the full house crowd for being a full house crowd.

Grolier Poetry Reading October 2nd

 

Sign Up Link:

 https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/zynnpqu/lp/6b917f8a-5bfc-4aeb-96a2-ce2df6d73076

Review of New And Selected Poems by Charles Coe

Few confessional poets can tug hearts with their first-person observational words without sliding into sentimentality and mediocrity. Charles Coe proves the exception with this delightful new collection of narrative, bluesy poems entitled New And Selected Works. This compelling volume contains twenty new poems as well as an assortment of extraordinary poems from four earlier books. For more of my review of Charles Coe's New And Selected Poems go here: https://dougholder.blogspot.com/2024/08/new-and-selected-works-by-charles-coe.html

Odd Man Out Published

My newest book, Odd Man Out, has just been published by MadHat Press. Much thanks to to the editor, Marc Vincenz, for his excellent design work. The book is currently available at MadHat Press, The Grolier Poetry Book Store, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or through myself. 

Review of Knock-knock by Owen Lewis

Does surpassing life’s expectancy bestow any extraordinary blessings of goodness or happiness or vitality? Probably not. What about wisdom, surely….? Sorry, jury’s out. The legendary Methuselar, at 969 biblical years old and righteous to a fault, died a natural death (with all its attendant horrors), apparently not long-lived enough for passage on his grandson’s just recently built ark, specifically that same ark’s gene-saving journey into mankind’s brave new world.

 In his new poetry collection, Knock-knock, Owen Lewis notices the tragedy, the irony, and the humor in the impaired denouement of humankind. His protagonist, a card-carrying member of the AMA, wanders through a fading landscape of imagination and perceptiveness bundled in symptomatic non sequiturs. For more of my review of Knock-knock go here: https://dougholder.blogspot.com/2024/03/knock-knock-by-owen-lewis.html

Review of Blues, Prayers, & Pagan Chants by Diane Sahms

Are there parallel universes that complete us, that deliver meaning where there seems to be only chaos-- a place, perhaps, for prayers to be delivered, petitions to be filed, unholy chants to be rhythmically sounded out, and sadnesses to be unfolded into wonder and song? Diane Sahms, at least in a literary sense, seems to think so. In her marvelous new book, Blues, Prayers, and Pagan Chants Sahms connects with this other shadow (sometimes sacred) reality, often using memory as her catalyst and nature as her medium. For more of my review of Blues, Prayers, & Pagan Chants go here: https://dougholder.blogspot.com/2024/03/blues-prayers-pagan-chants-poems-by.html