Allison Field Bell’s expansive and intimate poetry collection, ‘All That Blue’

‘… the word blue encompasses both the mental and physical spaces we inhabit.’

There’s something beautifully expansive about multi-genre writer Allison Field Bell‘s new poetry collection, All That Blue (now available from Finishing Line Press). The title itself evokes images of expansiveness: an unending dome of blue sky above, the glimmering cobalt of the ocean, the pristine turquoise of a county pond.

Juxtaposing these visions of expansiveness, though, are raw, intimate, and up-close expressions of life in all its messiness and unpredictability–the teeming life bubbling up from beneath. The 43 free-verse poems of All That Blue, Allison’s first collection of poetry, present this juxtaposition brilliantly.

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New (and free) ‘Live and Let DEI’ anthology turns banned words into poetry

Image of the cover for the poetry anthology 'Live and Let DEI: Poems That6 Draw on the U.S. Government's New "Forbidden Words"'

When the world and everything in it becomes toxic and chaotic, I often turn to works of poetry for solace and insight. And it’s during such times that poets often rise to the challenges of taking a stand against the ascent of totalitarianism and fascism. They emerge as a culture’s moral compass, as prophets and advocates for change, for reformation, for revolution, and it’s important that these voices have a space to be shared.

Last April, Winning Writers launched a project to provide such a space. The website issued a call for poetry that incorporated words and phrases the U.S. government has banned for a new anthology that was published earlier this week. You can download a PDF of the anthology, Live and Let DEI: Poems That Draw on the U.S. Government’s New ‘Forbidden Words’, free of charge.

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