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The Skin You Live In
by Michael Tyler David Lee CsicskoWith the ease and simplicity of a nursery rhyme, this lively story delivers an important message of social acceptance to young readers. Themes associated with child development and social harmony, such as friendship, acceptance, self-esteem, and diversity are promoted in simple and straightforward prose. Vivid illustrations of children's activities for all cultures, such as swimming in the ocean, hugging, catching butterflies, and eating birthday cake are also provided. This delightful picturebook offers a wonderful venue through which parents and teachers can discuss important social concepts with their children.
Slouching Toward Nirvana: New Poems
by Charles Bukowskiin this place there are the dead, the deadly and the dying. there is the cross, the builders of the cross and the burners of the cross. the pattern of my life forms like a cheap shadow on the wall before me. my love what is left of it now must crawl to wherever it can crawl. the strongest know that death is final and the happiest are those gifted with the shortest journey.
Something About America
by Maria TestaImmigration in contemporary America is explored in a powerful lyric novel from award-winning poet Maria Testa. What happens to a dream divided? Draping colorful scarves around her neck, the thirteen-year-old from Kosova thinks of herself as a typical American schoolgirl, happy to blend into eighth grade with her friends. But for her parents, seeking a new life in Maine was not a choice but a necessity -- a way to escape from a war and find medical care for a daughter burned in a fire that scarred her up to her chin. While her underemployed parents still talk about "home" and continue to feel like foreigners ten years later, their daughter is torn between the guilt about their displacement and pride in her new identity. Then a hateful event changes everything, stirring passions throughout the entire region and forcing residents old and new to re-examine what it means to be an American. Narrated by the young daughter from Kosova, the nuanced and deeply moving immigration tale was inspired by true events: In October 2002, the mayor of Lewiston, Maine wrote a letter to the elders of the local Somali community, asking them to turn future refugees away because the town was "maxed-out physically, financially, and emotionally." Seizing the opportunity, a racist group staged a rally that drew thirty people, only to be met by some six thousand residents in support of the Somalis -- people of all cultures and backgrounds who knew something about America.
Somewhere Else
by Matthew ShenodaFrom the river Nile to the teeming streets of Cairo, from the indigenous, pre-Islamic Egyptian Coptic civilization to an America struggling with its fear of the Arab world, Shenoda's poems recall the sacred traditions of an ancient, enduring culture as they widen the political conversation surrounding ethnicity, pan-Africanism and pan-Arabism. This notable collection spans generational, political and cultural divides, providing a nuanced perspective virtually unknown in the West. Matthew Shenoda is a Coptic poet influenced by jazz musicians and the writers of the Black Arts Movement. He teaches at San Francisco State University and works as a community and racial justice activist in the Bay Area. Widely anthologized, his articles, essays and poems have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Bloomsbury Review and Newsday.
Song of the Water Boatman And Other Pond Poems: A Caldecott Honor Award Winner
by Joyce SidmanA collection of poems that provide a look at some of the animals, insects, and plants that are found in ponds, with accompanying information about each.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Penguin Clothbound Poetry)
by William BlakeA collectible new Penguin Classics series: stunning, clothbound editions of ten favourite poets, which present each poet's most famous book of verse as it was originally published. Designed by the acclaimed Coralie Bickford-Smith and beautifully set, these slim, A format volumes are the ultimate gift editions for poetry lovers. Songs of Innocence and Experience is an illustrated collection of poems by William Blake, a seminal figure of the Romantic Movement. The volume was published in two parts with Songs of Innocence being published in 1789 and Songs of Experience in 1794. In the volume Blake juxtaposes the innocent world of childhood with the corrupt and repressed one of adults. Many of the poems are in pairs enabling the reader to see the same situation first from the perspective of innocence and then from that of experience. This collection includes some of his greatest poems including 'The Lamb', 'The Chimney Sweeper' and 'The Tyger'.
Souwesto Home
by James ReaneyThe poems in Souwesto Home are fresh, youthful meditations on such diverse subjects as the Little Lakes near Stratford, Ontario, the flora of Elgin County, the Donnelly feud, lichens, a Department Store Jesus, and so on. The collection ranges widely in tone and technique, from the lyrical to the satirical, from the direct and straightforward to the linguistically playful. As ever, Reaney’s signature voice, his inimitable combination of sophistication and child-like simplicity, may be heard in every line. Like his contemporaries, P.K. Page, Margaret Avison and Colleen Thibaudeau (his wife), he has lost nothing of his poetic prowess to advancing years.
Spain in Our Hearts: Espana en el corazon (New Directions Bibelot)
by Pablo Neruda Donald D. WalshNeruda's epic hymn against fascism, Spain in Our Hearts, now available in this pocket Bibelot edition. In 1936, Pablo Neruda was Chile's consul in Madrid, and so horrified by the civil war and the murder of his friend, Federico Garcia Lorca, that he started writing what became his most politically passionate series of poems, Spain in Our Hearts. The collection was printed by soldiers on the front lines of the war, and later incorporated into the third volume of Neruda's revolutionary collection, Residence on Earth. This bilingual New Directions Bibelot edition presents Spain in Our Hearts as a single book as it was first published, a tribute to Neruda's everlasting spirit.
Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip Hop And The Poetry Of A New Generation (A Poetry Speaks Experience)
by Mark Eleveld Marc Smith"A dynamic and clarifying volume chock-full of fresh and informative commentary...and an exciting array of knock-out poems." -Booklist Starred Review "Accompanied by a terrific CD that showcases the great variety of styles performance poetry embraces, from the purest of recitations to seductive musical presentations, this dynamic anthology embodies the thrilling and mutually beneficial rapprochement between the traditionalists and the slammers, something that seemed about as likely 10 years ago as that proverbial cold day in hell." -Chicago Tribune The Spoken Word Revolution brings to life the written and performed works of more than 40 of the most influential slam, hip hop, performance art and contemporary poets in the world today. This defining collection of spoken word poetry captures today's electrifying words and voices, in text and immediately live on one audio CD.
A String of Flowers, Untied . . .
by Murasaki Shikibu Jane ReichholdExpressions of passion and heartbreak, written by Murasaki Shikibu 1,000 years ago, transcend time and culture in this new translation of the poetry in the first 33 chapters of The Tale of Genji. It is the relationship between the novel's characters and the poetry that creates the beauty and sustained erotic tone of Lady Murasaki's story. For the first time, these 400+ poems are presented in the increasingly popular format of tanka (5-7-5-7-7), along with extended notes that reveal the hidden details and depth of meaning in Murasaki's real and fictional worlds.
The Sufi Book of Life
by Douglas-Klotz NeilPart meditation book, part oracle, and part collection of Sufi lore, poetry, and stories, The Sufi Book of Life offers a fresh interpretation of the fundamental spiritual practice found in all ancient and modern Sufi schools—the meditations on the 99 Qualities of Unity. Unlike most books on Sufism, which are primarily collections of translated Sufi texts, this accessible guide is a handbook that explains how to apply Sufi principles to modern life. With inspirational commentary that connects each quality with contemporary concerns such as love, work, and success, as well as timeless wisdom from Sufi masters, both ancient and modern, such as Rumi, Hafiz, Shabistari, Rabia, Inayat Khan, Indries Shah, Irina Tweedie, Bawa Muhaiyadden, and more, The Sufi Book of Life is a dervish guide to life and love for the twenty-first century. On the web: http://sufibookoflife. com .
Summer Doorways: A Memoir
by W. S. MerwinAmerica today is a mobile society. Many of us travel abroad, and few of us live in the towns or cities where we were born. It wasn't always so. “Travel from America to Europe became a commonplace, an ordinary commodity, some time ago, but when I first went such departure was still surrounded with an atmosphere of adventure and improvisation, and my youth and inexperience and my all but complete lack of money heightened that vertiginous sensation,” writes W. S. Merwin. Twenty-one, married and graduated from Princeton, the poet embarked on his first visit to Europe in 1948 when life and traditions on the continent were still adjusting to the postwar landscape.
The Sutler
by Michael KenyonIn language at once simple and eloquent, Michael Kenyon's The Sutler charts a falling and a rising, taking the reader through the grief of a failing relationship to the emergence of new possibility. Each poem is a gentleness deeply felt; each embued with a compassion, an honesty both stark and unflinching. Kenyon’s prose has shown him to be a consummate craftsman, and these poems are proof that he is a remarkable poet.
The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea: Poems
by Mark HaddonThat Mark Haddon's first book after The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a book of poetry will perhaps come as a surprise to his legions of fans; that it is also one of such virtuosity and range will simply astonish them. The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea reveals a poet of great versatility and formal talent: all the gifts so admired in Haddon's prose are in strong evidence here--the humanity of his voices, the dark humour and the uncanny ventriloquism but Haddon is also a writer of considerable seriousness, lyric power and surreal invention. Here are bittersweet love-lyrics, lucid and bold new versions of Horace, comic set-pieces, lullabies, wry postmodern shenanigans (including a note from the official board of censors on "18" certificate poetry), and an entire John Buchan novel condensed to five pages. The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea will consolidate his reputation as our most powerful myth-weavers and spell-makers, as well as one of the most outrageous and freewheeling imaginations at work in contemporary literature.
Ten Thousand Lives
by Ko UnKo Un grew up in a formerly Japanese-controlled territory that was very much the center of the Korean War. Ten Thousand Lives is his major, ongoing work, which began during his imprisonment, when he determined to describe every person he had ever met. The selection in this volume—from the first 10 volumes—represents one of the major classics of twentieth-century Korean literature, published for the first time in English.
The Thebaid: Seven against Thebes (Johns Hopkins New Translations from Antiquity)
by Publius Papinius StatiusA classical epic of fratricide and war, the Thebaid retells the legendary conflict between the sons of Oedipus—Polynices and Eteocles—for control of the city of Thebes. The Latin poet Statius reworks a familiar story from Greek myth, dramatized long before by Aeschylus in his tragedy Seven against Thebes. Statius chose his subject well: the Rome of his day, ruled by the emperor Domitian, was not too distant from the civil wars that had threatened the survival of the empire. Published in 92 A.D., the Thebaid was an immediate success, and its fame grew in succeeding centuries. It reached its peak of popularity in the later Middle Ages and Renaissance, influencing Dante, Chaucer, and perhaps Shakespeare. In recent times, however, it has received perhaps less attention than it deserves, in large part because there has been no accessible, dynamic translation of the work into English.Charles Stanley Ross offers a compelling version of the Thebaid rendered into forceful, modern English. Casting Statius's Latin hexameter into a lively iambic pentameter more natural to the modern ear, Ross frees the work from the archaic formality that has marred previous translations. His translation reinvigorates the Thebaid as a whole: its meditative first half and its violent second half; its intimate portrayal of defeat and retribution, and the need to seek justice at any cost. In a wide-ranging introduction, Ross provides an overview of the poem: its composition, reception and legacy; its major themes and literary influences; and its place in Statius' life. And in a helpful series of notes, he offers background information on the major characters and incidents.
Thinking Upside Down
by Byron Von RosenbergThe poems, fables, and sketches in this book will give you cause to think and a chance to laugh as well. They have been enjoyed by preteens and teenagers (!) and even given adults and retirees a smile or two. Read Thinking Upside Down to turn your heart right side up! Among its 160 pages and about 100 poems you'll find The Otter Oughter, Neanderthal Nell, and Super-Frog. Thinking Upside Down was written for children, but it will also entertain teens and adults
This Ancient Lyre: Selected Poems
by O. N. V. Kurup A. J. ThomasPoems edited by A. J. Thomas and translated from Malayalam by S. Velayudhan, et al.
This Connection of Everyone with Lungs
by Juliana SpahrPart planetary love poem, part 24/7 news flash, the hypnotic poems of This Connection of Everyone with Lungs wrap with equal, angular grace around lovers and battleships. These poems hear the tracer fire in a bird's song and capture cell division and troop deployments in the same expansive thought. They move through concentric levels of association and embrace --from the space between the hands to the mesosphere and back again--touching everything in between. The book's focus shifts between local and global, public and private, individual and social. Everything gets in: through all five senses, through windows, between your sheets, under your skin.
This Connection of Everyone with Lungs: Poems
by Juliana SpahrThis Connection of Everyone with Lungs wrap with equal, angular grace around lovers and battleships. These poems hear the tracer fire in a bird's song and capture cell division and troop deployments in the same expansive thought.
Thomas and Friends: Railway Rhymes
by R. Schuyler HookeA fun collection of more than 30 original poems featuring 35 different friends from the Island of Sodor. Travel all over the island, at all times of year in this wonderful first book of poems with the Thomas touch.
The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems
by Billy CollinsPlayfulness, spare elegance, and wit epitomize the poetry of Billy Collins. With his distinct voice and accessible language, America's two-term Poet Laureate has opened the door to poetry for countless people for whom it might otherwise remain closed. Like the present book's title, Collins's poems are filled with mischief, humor, and irony, "Poetry speaks to all people, it is said, but here I would like to address / only those in my own time zone"-but also with quiet observation, intense wonder, and a reverence for the everyday: "The birds are in their trees, / the toast is in the toaster, / and the poets are at their windows. / They are at their windows in every section of the tangerine of earth-the Chinese poets looking up at the moon, / the American poets gazing out / at the pink and blue ribbons of sunrise. " Through simple language, Collins shows that good poetry doesn't have to be obscure or incomprehensible, qualities that are perhaps the real trouble with most "serious" poetry: "By now, it should go without saying / that what the oven is to the baker / and the berry-stained blouse to the drycleaner / so the window is to the poet. " In this dazzling new collection, his first in three years, Collins explores boyhood, jazz, love, the passage of time, and, of course, writing-themes familiar to Collins's fans but made new here. Gorgeous, funny, and deeply empathetic, Billy Collins's poetry is a window through which we see our lives as if for the first time.
The Ugly Pumpkin
by Dave HorowitzWith looks different than all the others in the pumpkin patch, Ugly Pumpkin is teased by his peers and never gets picked throughout the whole season, but after he leaves the patch and heads out on his own, Ugly Pumpkin discovers that he is special in his own way and ends up becoming the star of a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!
The Undiscovered Country: Poetry in the Age of Tin
by William LoganWilliam Logan has been called both the "preeminent poet-critic of his generation" and the "most hated man in American poetry." For more than a quarter century, in the keen-witted and bare-knuckled reviews that have graced the New York Times Book Review, the Times Literary Supplement (London), and other journals, William Logan has delivered razor-sharp assessments of poets present and past. Logan, whom James Wolcott of Vanity Fair has praised as being "the best poetry critic in America," vividly assays the most memorable and most damning features of a poet's work. While his occasionally harsh judgments have raised some eyebrows and caused their share of controversy (a number of poets have offered to do him bodily harm), his readings offer the fresh and provocative perspectives of a passionate and uncompromising critic, unafraid to separate the tin from the gold.The longer essays in The Undiscovered Country explore a variety of poets who have shaped and shadowed contemporary verse, measuring the critical and textual traditions of Shakespeare's sonnets, Whitman's use of the American vernacular, the mystery of Marianne Moore, and Milton's invention of personality, as well as offering a thorough reconsideration of Robert Lowell and a groundbreaking analysis of Sylvia Plath's relationship to her father.Logan's unsparing "verse chronicles" present a survey of the successes and failures of contemporary verse. Neither a poet's tepid use of language nor lackadaisical ideas nor indulgence in grotesque sentimentality escapes this critic's eye. While railing against the blandness of much of today's poetry (and the critics who trumpet mediocre work), Logan also celebrates Paul Muldoon's high comedy, Anne Carson's quirky originality, Seamus Heaney's backward glances, Czeslaw Milosz's indictment of Polish poetry, and much more.Praise for Logan's previous works:Desperate Measures (2002)"When it comes to separating the serious from the fraudulent, the ambitious from the complacent, Logan has consistently shown us what is wheat and what is chaff.... The criticism we remember is neither savage nor mandarin.... There is no one in his generation more likely to write it than William Logan."—Adam Kirsch, Oxford AmericanReputations of the Tongue (1999)"Is there today a more stringent, caring reader of American poetry than William Logan? Reputations of the Tongue may, at moments, read harshly. But this edge is one of deeply considered and concerned authority. A poet-critic engages closely with his masters, with his peers, with those whom he regards as falling short. This collection is an adventure of sensibility."—George Steiner"William Logan's critical bedevilments-as well as his celebrations-are indispensable."—Bill Marx, Boston GlobeAll the Rage (1998)"William Logan's reviews are malpractice suits."—Dennis O'Driscoll, Verse"William Logan is the best practical critic around."—Christian Wiman, Poetry
War and the Illiad
by Simone Weil Rachel BespaloffFirst published on the eve of war in 1939, the essay has often been read as a pacifist manifesto. Rachel Bespaloff was a French contemporary of Weil's whose work similarly explored the complex relations between literature, religion, and philosophy. This edition brings together these two influential essays for the first time, accompanied by Benfey's scholarly introduction and an afterword by the great Austrian novelist Hermann Broch.