"sometimes all you need is one ear to listen." - S.E. Bourne ( )

Every Awful Thing is a rough draft of a collection of ideas that might, with multiple revisions, be worked into a good chapbook. The 51 short entries include narrative microfiction, journal entries, memoirs, and poetry. There are interesting ideas here, but few are expressed adequately.

It is challenging to know how to evaluate some of the offerings since the rules for punctuation, grammar, and even capitalization are strikingly different for free verse poetry and other literary forms. These forms blur together in this work, offering only indistinct clues about the intent. Nevertheless, fundamental errors in punctuation, grammar, and capitalization are common. Word choice and the order of words in sentences also require attention. Also troublesome is the frequent repetition of phrases. For example, the very first sentence of the book, “She is feral, she is like a feral kid,” suggests an idea the author has not yet fleshed out. Other examples include,
I push and glide and pedal
I push and glide and pedal
I push and glide and pedal, and
As if magic
As if magic
As if magic.

There is little to be gained by further examples. Suffice it to say that additional revisions and perhaps the assistance of a professional editor are necessary to achieve the author’s objective. ( )

A collection of flash fiction and poetry giving a broad and frank picture of the author. Several of the poems especially were very insightful, One of my favorites was Matchstick Girl Part 5. ( )