SPR’s book reviews of new self-published books
Pricking Balloons by James C. MacDonald
A mournful and musing collection of poetry in every form, Pricking Balloons by James C. MacDonald is both existential and immediate, dissecting a myriad of events, ideas, and feelings through his unique lens.
Divided into four sections titled with names of cities, some poems do feel tied to locations, but many others are biblical, philosophical, familial, and nonspecific. The New Orleans pieces feel like poetic questions, touching on sacred words and secret messages, ideals, and beliefs, but there are also intimate snapshot poems of tragedy and change, such as “The Little Girl in the Canal Street Mall” and “Crescent City […]