What follows is the first in J. A. Tyler’s full-press of Subito Press, a series of reviews appearing at [PANK] over the course of 2012, covering every title available from Subito. J. A. Tyler’s previous full-press series have appeared at Big Other (full-press of Calamari Press) and at Mud Luscious Press’s online quarterly (full-press of Publishing Genius Press).

As Subito Press’s first competition winner in poetry, Kristin Abraham’s Little Red Riding Hood Missed the Bus sets the bar extremely high for future volumes, tangling the standard versions of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ around contemporary culture and through surreal landscapes to form a poetry collection of ghosts and blood and snow, a re-envisioned and re-invigorated fairy tale.

Little Red Riding Hood Missed the Bus is a pocket-sized, matte volume, slim and beautifully designed by David Stadler. And the physical sensibilities of the book – minimal, simplistic, straight-forward – are in wonderful contrast with Abraham’s poetry, which is sprawling and dense, thick-blooded and expansive. This ripe juxtaposition in the production of Little Red Riding Hood Missed the Bus is an excellent way into a book that thrives on contrast. Continue reading →