Review by Mack Hassler “Henry Nash Smith, in Virgin Land: American West as Symbol and Myth (1950), analyzes the Buffalo Bill legend created in popular literature. Benjamin A.Botkin in A Treasury of American Folklore (1944) looks at the Wild West Show and its proprietor in the context of American Folk…
Review by Mack Hassler “Vermilac, (Worm Lake); “Pointe Aux Loup Springs (Wolf Springs) History tells us that if it had not been for the French and Indian War, which took place ten years before our War for Independence and which the British won, the whole continent from the East…
Review by Mack Hassler “Choose a Hawaiian Shirt, or dress….. Or just wear something bright, colorful or a plain Bright color…. Look Festive!! Smile!!! It brightens everyone’s mood.” — A flyer posted by my Retirement Home “And with wandering steps and slow, [our first parents] through Eden made their Solitary way.” …
Review by Mack Hassler “It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each…
Review by Mack Hassler Tantae molis erat Romanem condere gentum “How hard it was to found the Race of Rome” Near the end of Book I, The Aeneid by Virgil (written about the time of Christ’s birth) “ … they were now looking up at the branches…
Review by Mack Hassler An early issue of Clutch was one of the first collections I reviewed, long before Luczak had his idea of editing his series. The geography of Robert Zoschke reaches up and to the East toward the delta of the Menominee into Lake Michigan, so it is…
Review by Mack Hassler The Yooper Poetry Series, originated and edited by Luczak, captivates me in this book Amasa Speaker Factory by Chad Faries (volume VI), which deals mostly with Iron County; and with the Zoschke 2026 edition of Clutch, we get a similar Kerouac-centered “on the road” openness of structure…
Review by Mack Hassler And when the couple had enjoyed their lovemaking, they shared another pleasure –telling stories. Odysseus told her how much he hurt So many people, and in turn How much he had endured himself. She loved to listen and she did not fall asleep until he told…
.Review by Mack Hassler “… though Cook’s body was never found— eaten by the indigenous people Who killed him, his name will live forever in the remembrance of the people Grateful for the services his labors have afforded to mankind in general.” A letter by Joseph Banks…
Review by Mack Hassler “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve ofthem,whom he also designated apostles [special messengers]” Luke 6:12-13 I particularly like reading nonfiction storytelling…
Review by Mack Hassler “Well, I could have loved you better Didn’t mean to be unkind You know that was the last thing on my mind” Tom Paxton (1964) reprinted by permission “But for Adam there was not found a Helper fit for him” Genesis 2:21 “If you build it,…
Review by Mack Hassler “Special Agent Gracie Hart … is eager to be the next Miss United States … Sandra Bullock stars as an [undercover] operative posing as a contestant In order to ferret out a terrorist targeting the event” — Product information for the film, “Miss Congeniality” (DVD 2000)…
Review by Mack Hassler “‘You are Israel’s teacher, said Jesus, ‘and do you not understand … ?’ — John 2:25 “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God”‘ — John 3:…
Review by Mack Hassler Tantae molis erat Romanem condere gentum “How hard it was to found the race of Rome” Near the end of Book I, Vergil The Aeneid, written close to Christ’s birth I love the interplay in this epigraph between the language play in ancient thought given to…
Review by Mack Hassler “That is why it was called Babel— because the Lord confused the language of the whole world” Genesis 11:9 I think I will always, in a way, be thankful that God’s new creation of mankind in the Garden was a failed experiment. Adam and Eve and…
Review by Mack Hassler “…In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Fourth Gospel, by Saint John, 1:1 I have…
Review by Mack Hassler A beautifully-designed chapbook by Amy Hansen, Superior Stories is the product of workshopping for creative writers and chosen by chief judge Brian Gruley as the latest of this long series of chapbook winners. I have not reviewed any of the series previously, but the work of…
Review by Mack Hassler One of my great literary heroes is Samuel Johnson, “…the style of a man who thinks with rigorous clarity and as the author of a dictionary has the whole language at his command.” (from the Preface to Johnson’s The History of Ressalas by Michael Lewis, professor…
