Red Hen Press

69 pages, $17.95

Review by Laura Kochman

I hadn’t heard the term “interrobang” before encountering Jessica Piazza’s first collection, Interrobang.  Without knowing, it sounds aggressive, or accusatory. It’s a typographical character combining the exclamation point and the question mark, excitement and question, or excitement and disbelief. Two not-opposites made composite, an uncommon ligature. It’s fallen out of usage in favor of a separate exclamation point and question mark, maybe because we are prone these days to the simpler characters preprogrammed in our word processors and text-messaging apps, maybe because we are less inclined to examine the site of overlap. Tying two things together is complicated. Interrobang embarks on that kind of examination, looking more closely at pairings and opposites. All but three of the poems are named after either a phobia or a philia, though there isn’t much tonal difference between the two poem types. Most are sonnets or variations on the sonnet form. Fear and love aren’t so far-flung. Continue reading →