REVIEWS: Still-Life with God . . .

Poetry reviews (southfloridapoetryjournal.com)
There is something abundant and universal about this collection of poems, even beyond the theological and artistic concerns indicated by the book’s title. Atkins’ poems explore the nature of the self, of the body, of family relationships including childhood and marriage, as well as the ubiquity of violence in all aspects of life. Her images harken back to an earlier time with S&H green stamps and phone booths, but they also point to our own century, full of the internet, selfies, and “alt-sleuths”.

Review @ HighlandParkPoetry by Tina Cole
http://highlandparkpoetry.org/reviewsthanks.html

Kimilee Norman for Sweet Lit: 
https://fanmail.sweetlit.com/2020/07/still-life-with-god-by-cynthia-atkins/

Micah Zevin at Vol 1 Brooklyn
"Employing beautiful concisions suffused with allegory and metaphor, Atkins offers poem after delectable poem, the sweetest of candies with dark and satisfying centers. Atkins guides us through a journey in search of the divine in all things, whether embodied by our bodily wreckage or the machines of our madness. Moreover, Atkins is skilled at depicting the chaos and joy of human existence, simultaneously. Still-Life with God delights in all contradictions."

Riley Hines for Call Me Brackets
"Overall, the collection is thought-provoking and profound, imploring the reader to not only examine themselves, but also humans as a collective whole."
https://callmebrackets.net/still-life-with-god/

Ray Marsocci at Tinderbox Poetry Journal
"It’s a lot to hope for, our reaching to wherever we’ve come, “still” alive; “still” saying what we need to whom, still believing in what we need to believe, in order to keep going....In Still-Life With God, we may fill that faith with a poetry that helps keep us present."
https://tinderboxpoetry.com/review-of-still-life-with-god-by-cynthia-atkins?fbclid=IwAR2Ni-Bj2tkoijQU8VRHg8DKmPQ26ztQwX-gtXFyRnoHR16AYbdiCLTWKxs

Arya F. Jenkins at Rhino Reviews, Vol 3.1
"A saphad and a cri du coeur at once, Still-Life With God invites the reader into a complex proposal not to be refused---to let in the external, acknowledge the darkness and light both within and without. This is not poetry to placate the mind and senses but to stir up an internal revolution."
https://rhinopoetry.org/reviews/still-life-with-god-by-cynthia-atkins-reviewed-by-arya-f-jenkins?fbclid=IwAR0fSpncatX341ii_hXFlpA01BI6LXT9jVVaS7SVTmQeMgriVn7NsXgA9sE

 

REVIEWS: In the Event of Full Disclosure . . .

Pushcart Nomination, 2015 for Hermeneutic Chaos Literary Journal
"Mirror, Mirror"
http://www.hermeneuticchaosjournal.com/award-nominations.html

The Booth/ Hermeneutic Chaos--interviews by Olivia Olson
--with thanks to Editor-in-Chief, Shinjini Bhattacharjee
https://theboothblogsite.wordpress.com/…/making-the-poetry…/

Pushcart Nomination, 2016:
http://www.hermeneuticchaosjournal.com/cynthia-atkins-september-2015.html

Review by Karen Schubert, Cleaver Magazine
"This is a very finely wrought collection and I loved it from beginning to end. 
A new poet to me, Cynthia Atkins can count me as a big fan."

https://kickstandpoetry.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/in-the-event-of-full-
disclosure-by-cynthia-atkins/
"In the end, Atkins seems to be sure of one thing, that she 'was born
to know that some things /call for ceremony, and some a puddle / of grief.' (Birth Right).
I must say there is a puddle of grief in these poems, but there's also a
resevoir of celebration, and this, like all good things, must be celebrated."--Octavio Quintanilla

http://www.fact-simile.com/magazine.html

Review by Michael T. Young, The Philadephia Review of Books
http://philadelphiareviewofbooks.com/2014/07/17/privacy-as-a-fever/

Review by Anne Champion, Pank Magazine
http://pankmagazine.com/2014/01/28/review-in-the-event-of-full-disclosure-by-cynthia-atkins/

Review by Editor, Vince Gotera, North American Review, Spirng Summer,
Vol 299 #2: https://cgi.access.uni.edu/cgi-bin/cart/shop.cgi?master_id=2
"... displays the quiet horrors of family, not merely of a family, but family in general,
all of our families. Perhaps this book speaks to me particularly as the child of a
schizophrenic father and of a mother who was just trying to make everything
all right on a daily basis,moment by moment. But no, I think it speaks to all of us
about everyday lives, about surviving and thriving, moment by moment. ... Atkins gives
us a brave book that peels away the veneer and reveals how art can save if pursued
with relentless, even if hidden, ardor. Read this book; you'll be amazed."--VG, NAR

http://www.inotherwordsmerida.com/2012/03/04/3-poems-by-cynthia-atkins/
http://bombmagazine.org/article/2155/two-poems

http://passion4pearl.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/in-the-event-of-full-disclosure/

http://www.inotherwordsmerida.com/2012/03/04/3-poems-by-cynthia-atkins/

Interview with editor-in-chief, Darryl Salach at the Toronto Quarterly:
http://thetorontoquarterly.blogspot.com/2013/04/poetry-month-2013-cynthia-atkins.html
" ... these poems resonate deeply with their punch-packing lines."--Anne Chamion

Eight 5-STAR reviews on Amazon including:

"In her new collection, Cynthia Atkins explores grief and human frailty with exuberant
language play and taut syntax. The resulting poems thrill, provoke, and ultimately celebrate
love and the transformative power of the imagination. Inspiring!" --Suzanne Wise, author

"A great thoughtful and well crafted work, inviting and intelligent both. It made me consider
many aspects of family, and tradition that aren't often discussed in this way. The overall sense
I took away from it was that we all come from a larger work, even if we don't have all the
pieces in view, for all the good and bad that brings along. No sense ignoring that, it has to
be dealt with sometime." --Brent Allard, author

"These poems are confessional in subject matter, lyrical in presentation, raw, rich, simple and
complex. They are also intensely beautiful poems open to the world at large -- to grasp and
grab onto, so that this mess of a world might glimpse its own worth. When a book such as
this is written, I can only express my deepest thanks to the poet. I look forward to
Cynthia Atkins next collection."--Susan Tepper, author

Reviews of In the Event of Full Disclosure by Barton Smock
http://www.litbridge.com/book-reviews/review-of-in-the-event-of-full-disclosure/

The Book Woman
Women's National Book Association by Lorine Kritzer Pergament
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs143/1110349281835/archive/1114878305934.htm

http://fromtheeditr.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-new-book-of-poetry-for-poolside-read.html
“Cynthia Atkins' extraordinary collection is a display of precious, vacuum-packed,
uranium-heavy poems that still glow in the dark a long time after you have finished reading them,
illuminating your heart and guts from the inside.” --Seb Doubinsky, author of Goodbye Babylon

REVIEWS: Psyche's Weathers . . .

"Psyche’s Weathers is a savvy testament to the presence of personal significance and
communal sacredness in the most mundane aspects of our world." --Christina Cook,
Poet's Quarterly, Winter 2011 http://poetsquarterly.yolasite.com/winter11_atkins.php

"Atkins buries frightening past events in visual details that depict a life lived according to
the cultural norm."--Christina Cook

Comstock Review
http://www.comstockreview.org/review/a.html

"Atkins' poems remind us of the confluence and the argument between what is within
and what is without, what is beautiful and perilous, expected and unexpected,
mysterious and ordinary about human experience."--Carrie Brown

"Atkins' poems remind us of the confluence and the argument between what is within
and what is without, what is beautiful and perilous, expected and unexpected, mysterious
and ordinary about human experience."--Carrie Brown

"Cynthia Atkins' poems sharpen the focus of what's at stake in the world and what can
be transcended...Indeed, here is a poet who will continue blowinging 'kisses to her
public'."--A. Van Jordan http://www.nycbigcitylit.com/

"Dear Cynthia Atkins,
As you may know, we are in the process of digitizing the archives of BOMB magazine,
so that we can offer the most complete picture possible, not only of BOMB's 30-year
(and counting!) history, but of the seminal culture that created that content. We would love
to be able to put your work that was previously published in BOMB Magazine as a part
of The BOMB Digital Archive, which will be accessible and fully searchable to students,
scholars, and readers worldwide on BOMBsite. . . ."