To begin with, here are three poems of mine that the incredible Malarkey Books shared… http://malarkeybooks.com/poetry/three-poems-by-jonie-mcintire
And my chapbook Semidomesticated was reviewed by the very wonderful and talented Bonnie Proudfoot (the one whose first novel, Goshen Road, was published in January 2020 by Ohio University's Swallow Press and has since been selected for the Women's National Book Association's Great Group Reads program and longlisted for the 2021 PEN/Hemingway Award for Best Debut Novel - yeah, that gal!) :
"Semidomesticated, Toledo poet Jonie McIntire's third volume of poetry, published by Red Flag Press, takes nothing for granted. It is sincere, unsentimental, intelligent, and invested with uneasy attachment, yet features keen observations about contemporary life and the struggle to keep focused and keep writing through it all. Semidomesticated focuses on family, community, living through the power plays and burdens of the workforce. It examines these subjects with a sense of wit and irony, with originality, self-awareness, with authenticity in voice and poetic identity. Readers who seek honesty and intelligence will delight in Semidomesticated because McIntire's poetry defies sentimentality; it is rooted in the understanding that the job of the poet is not to make something pretty or to make language carry the weight of the poet’s expectation or desire, but instead, to pay attention, to interrogate, to find broken spaces and reject the easy fix. Each poem resonates with earned sensibility and a kind of unsentimental realism that has the ability to both connect and investigate, to hold the world at arm's length, while not turning away from attachment. This is a book to enjoy and return to. Each poem is as plain-spoken as a conversation, yet through its choice of subject matter and through the attention of the poet, the poetry allows the readers to feel more present in their own lives. McIntire’s poetic intelligence buries itself deep in the heart of the reader, and with each reading, the discoveries will deepen."
