Bruce Arlen Wasserman, Poet

My review of Erica Dawson’s groundbreaking long poem, When Rap Spoke Straight to God is now at New York Journal of Books. Click to read it.

I am honored to tell you that my poem, “Louisiana Life,” is out in the current, beautiful issue of the FREDERICKSBURG LITERARY AND ART REVIEW, Pages 78-79. Click to read it.

I am happy to say that my poem, “Louisiana Life,” will appear in  the Spring/Summer 2018 edition of the Fredericksburg Literary and Art Review. The poem, which tracks the history of life in Louisiana through a unique lens, is well matched in its new publication home. Fredericksburg Literary and Art Review is a beautiful, well-curated journal. Here is their link: Fredericksburg Literary and Art Review.

I just got word that my short story, “The Almost Living,” was selected as a semi-finalist for the Francine Ringold Awards for New Writers by the Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry.

No book has more to say about our times than W.S. Merwin’s, The Lice. I was honored to have the opportunity to review the Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, published by Copper Canyon Press, for the New York Journal of Books. Here is an excerpt of the review:

In this fiftieth anniversary edition, there exists the opportunity to access Merwin’s writings created in such tumultuous times, yet along with the reading of this volume is the eerie sense that his poems are particularly suited to the current condition of our world. So well-matched, in fact, that someone not familiar with the background of The Lice will see the poems’ statements as relevant to the unfolding of the political and socioeconomic dynamics that daily are unveiled across the media, worldwide. Look at the second stanza of Merwin’s poem, “The Last One”:

Well they cut everything because why not.

Everything was theirs because they thought so.

It fell into its shadows and they took both away.

Some to have some for burning.

Click here to read the review at NYJB.

“What is clear… is that the accepted, often imitated and venerated Route 66 of narrative verse need not fear finding deviation from the well-traveled path. In fact, the lyrical approach that is evident in Perillo’s poetry makes a more potent narrative because it travels so far from the route.” Read the entire review here at the New York Journal of Books site.

“Tomás Morín is a writer who understands time. He parcels it, plays with it, takes it down to its microscopic focus, reassembles it and his work sings to it in a way that is distinguished, telling, unique,” writes Bruce Arlen Wasserman, poet and book critic, in his recent review of Morín’s new book published by Copper Canyon Press. Click here to read the review.

I had the opportunity to review The Lyrics: 1961 – 2012, by Bob Dylan, for the New York Journal of Books. Access the review, as well as my other reviews for the NYJB, here.

Bruce’s poem, “The Wet on Milan Street,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2016! You may find the poem in Kindred Literary Magazine’s 2016 Mason-Dixon Issue. Click to get to Anchor & Plume Press

The upcoming Mason-Dixon Issue of Kindred Magazine (Anchor & Plume Press issue #11, 2016) will feature two of Bruce’s poems:

“The Wet on Milan Street”

“Breathing In, Breathing Out”

These poems are part of a continuum of Bruce’s poetry about New Orleans and the South.

Click here to purchase Kindred Magazine Issue #11