The poems of Äiti explore the anxieties of childhood, the connection between mother and daughter, and the wellspring of grief that follows a tragic death. Finnish lakes and Pennsylvania rivers flow through these poems, which live in the present, in memory, and in the imagined past. By examining the space after loss, Äiti shows how longing changes us and how we are inextricably entwined with the ones we love.
The poems speak to the impact of trauma - loss, injury and becoming a caretaker - with a determined voice. As this snapshot of life unravels on the page, the poems urgently grasp onto bits of strength and joy anywhere they can be found. Preserving the Unraveled poses essential questions in any journey towards healing: Where can we find strength? How do we regain our footing? What is worth preserving? The book is a courageous quest for hope.
Don't Be Another Girl includes poems that tackle themes of introductory feminism, familial relationships, abuse, and mental illness. These free-verse and prose poems use pop culture, politics, and elements of nature as vehicles to mirror the violence of the western white patriarchy-following the journey of a budding feminist, these poems attempt to set the patriarchy ablaze. Realizing that fire consumes everything, Don't Be Another Girl aims to confront internalized sexism and challenges gender expectations imposed by family, society, religion, and the government. Under the influences of Sharon Olds, Rachel McKibbens, Jaquira Díaz, Lucille Clifton, Jan Beatty, and Audre Lorde, these poems attempt to call into question the sexist ideals of a male-dominated society, while striving for sisterhood and self-love. Don't Be Another Girl is the first spark of a feminist that doesn't always get it right, but is trying to ground themselves after being uprooted.
In beautiful, thoughtful, and sensitive lyrics, UPSTREAM offers an enthusiastic encounter with a winter journey paddling up the Mississippi River. This sequence of meditations follows in the tradition of Basho's Eastern travelogues-as a contemplation of self, history, and our contemporary environment. UPSTREAM gives form to the belief that life, itself, is a relationship with the Earth. Guided by Native Nation cosmologies, this collection captures that complexity of interdependency between one's personal, cultural, and ethical values.Each poem expresses the joy of perceiving the Mississippi River as a living entity, forceful, knowledgeable, and communicating to us through time. The reader experiences an affirmation that our rightful place is here, on this Earth with a river that speaks, if we listen.For additional information about the author, view: www.MarkBHamilton.WordPress.com
In this breathtaking debut chapbook, Charlotte Clear's poetry takes on a brutal and heartfelt journey after the death of her daughter. For anyone who has struggled with grief or bereavement, this painstakingly honest Chapbook documents not only ohe poet's recovery , but speaks to the universality of love, loss, and regret and the long, circular route she endures on her road to healing . A must -read for those who are struggling with loss of a loved one, Charlotte Clear describes in her chapbook the weight of the days in the aftermath of the labyrinth of grief. Her poems are powerful examples of the complexity of life, love and loss in exquisite detail.
Charity Everitt's debut chapbook, Translation from the Ordinary, is anything but ordinary. Her book is built on "ambiguities to be found in even our most cherished truths." While she references the book's origin as inspired by two parallel lines from Biblical Psalms, her poems reach far beyond religion or spirituality. Everitt's poetry is often grounded in every-day images-tuna hot dish and salads, spiders, yellow sandals, and more. But she is keenly aware of the complexities and struggles of human existence and spurs the reader to grapple with them all in her work. With sharp natural and human-made imagery and powerful emotion, she delves into the most poignant aspects of life-grief, aging, loss, love, and rebirth. In rich language and depth of meaning, she challenges readers to recognize the human condition, and to sustain each other with hope and resilience for the future.-Alan Perry, author of Clerk of the DeadCharity Everitt's depth and range of imagination dazzles throughout this fierce and magical collection of twenty-two poems which go beyond the personal to encompass the uncertainties of our current human condition. With both vivid imagery and a spiritual presence, her captivating writing will "surprise you with music / loosed by the world's rocking."-Anita Rankin, author of Bloodstone Bhava and Transform Stress through Creative Energy
From Judge Roy Bean to Medea, from Étienne Trouvelot to Princess Di, these poems walk like the bird flies, traveling an emotive journey through love and loss, in imagined and actual landscapes.
"Everything that Jamilla Vandyke Bailey writes excites me. There is an immediacy, intimacy, and freshness to her prose and poems that hooks me and makes me want more. the womxn, Vandyke Bailey's fragmentary poems about womanhood, girlhood, genderhood and the hood hood, Bailey collages a world, stitching together a universe of heartache and soft triumph."-Myriam Gurba Serrano, Writer, Editor of Tasteful Rude, and Author of Mean (@alt_myriam_gurba666)
The volume is a result of a three-city international poetry reading that was held online during the height of the pandemic on Boxing Day, Dec 26, 2020, uniting poets from Kolkota, Norfolk, VA and Montreal in order to tackle notions of loneliness, urban alienation but also togetherness and solidarity during times of isolation and fear.
The Triumph of Sorrow: A Lover of Longing features poems that guide the reader around many topics, such as lost love, personal history, a woman's right to choose, abuse, and mental health. For the majority, this book focuses on the aspect of love anyone can relate to and the offensive side. Each poem is a rush to the heart of the matter that makes us all tick and able to connect as human beings-held together by rare truthful emotional storytelling, the poetics of the book frame moments that make up times that can be located anywhere.
Set in crowded homes, pool-halls, and hospitals, the poems in Zero Is a Number are often tender, sometimes infused with violence, and relentlessly searching for meaning among stapled thumbs, snake tattoos, and gasoline baths. This propulsive pursuit of truth-words rushing across the pages in a passionate excavation-made me sit up straighter. Reading Michael Hammerle is like dreaming yourself into somebody else's vehement, breakneck, ardent life.-Rachel Pastan is the author, most recently, of In the Field. Winner of the Science + Literature award from the National Book Foundation in 2022Michael Hammerle's Zero Is A Number is a poetry collection conveying snapshots of a family history-a family history full of fire, and Hammerle threads a nostalgic sentiment of a calm torment throughout these poems as he reveals a tiny splinter of the world, mixing and mashing video games with tattoos and skating rinks and wrenches and nails and sibling fights. There are variations of a household-a cracked image for each memory and a family member for each cracked image, as if we're standing in the front yard and facing a home under the evening sun with our eyes barely open, squinting perhaps, as we try to make sense of the complications that come with those we love and remember. A door opened-indeed, into a living room of a family in search of each other's hands. Zero Is A Number creates tangible ghosts and hazy realities, and it's through these flashes and flickers of light, a marvelous poetry collection hums before us.-Shome Dasgupta, author of Iron Oxide and several other booksIf we're lucky, we live long enough to fix the math. Zero Is a Number allows us to go back to the board, and if not to erase the mistakes, then to at least stare at them again. In poem after startling poem, Michael Hammerle looks back with a searing honesty at a life you'll have to read to believe. There are no symbols here. There's just the burn of the Florida sun, a staple stuck in child's hand, stepfathers troubled with the cost of love, and grandparents who would press their last nickel into your palm. There are elegies. There is plenty of beauty. Maybe all we ask of poetry is that it tell us something we can't forget, and Zero Is a Number does just that.-Jack Heflin, author of Local Hope
Gasping for Air: Stories of Adults and Children portrays a dark sensibility and profound compassion for children scarred by the neglect and abuse of adults meant to protect them. Unsettling and unforgettable, the collection is a stark reminder of the precariousness of childhood innocence. Through short stories, poems, poems-within-stories, and stories-within-poems, the book paints a troubling vision, at times starkly real and at others vividly dreamlike, of the complex relationship between adults and children.
"Scholar of the Arts and Inhumanities" is an evocative collection of poems that dives deep into the complexities of human existence, painting vivid portraits of emotions, relationships, and the enduring strength of the human spirit. Through its poignant verses, this anthology offers a profound exploration of life's intricate tapestry.The collection opens with a series of poems that grapple with the multifaceted nature of love and loss. It navigates the terrain of heartbreak, longing, and the unexpected twists that life often presents. The poems in this section serve as a testament to the enduring power of the heart, even in the face of profound sorrow.These verses celebrate the healing potential of the natural world, where a canary's song becomes a catalyst for profound revelation. These poems resonate with the gentle interplay between inner and outer landscapes, inviting readers to find solace in the embrace of the world around them.This collection confronts themes of empowerment and triumph over adversity. Poems such as "Vengeful Spirit" embody a spirit's quest for justice, unearthing the echoes of wrongs committed against her. "Trauma Bond" delves into the intricate dance between vulnerability and strength, illustrating the arduous journey to break free from a suffocating past.Throughout the collection, timely societal issues find voice in poems like "Lockdown," providing a stark reflection on the toll of trauma within a generation accustomed to violence. "Unfair" challenges established notions of fairness and inclusion, encouraging individuals to forge their own paths when denied a place at the table."Reclaim" and "Chokehold" echo themes of empowerment, urging individuals to seize control of their destinies and cast off the shackles of past traumas. "Until We Kiss Again" encapsulates the poignant yearning for a return to normalcy in a world forever transformed.Haunted by the echoes of betrayal, "The Tears You Gave Me" lays bare the lasting scars of trust shattered, while "Indelible Mark" delves into the struggle to release the weight of past trauma. "Thief" contemplates the blurred lines between inspiration and appropriation, inviting introspection."Victim Blaming" courageously confronts harmful narratives surrounding survivors of abuse, dismantling stereotypes with unflinching truth. "Maiden Name" champions the autonomy of women to define their own identities, challenging traditional conventions."Ghost" encapsulates the lingering aftermath of a toxic relationship, exploring the enduring echoes of a love that refused to let go. "Teacher's Pet" exposes the painful reality of betrayal in a mentorship, unveiling the predatory nature of a once-trusted figure.Concluding on a note of self-reclamation, "Pieces of Me" demands the return of the fragments of self that were relinquished in the pursuit of another's healing. "Echoes of Resilience" resonates as a powerful anthem of self-discovery, resilience, and the unyielding human spirit. It invites readers on an emotional odyssey, leaving an indelible mark long after the final verse is read. This collection is an intimate testament to the enduring strength of the human spirit.
Breathing in Minneapolis is a chronicle of the tumultuous events that defined 2020: the Covid pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, sometimes violent civil unrest, and the often murderous cruelty of American society. We encounter the sweet scent of lilacs competing with tear gas, immigrant store owners picking up burnt fragments, a young father crossing the Rio Grande on Christmas Eve, a pastor mourning a dying parishioner he cannot visit, a shower of cottonwood blossoms falling like snow. Breathing in Minneapolis invites us to join an intimate dance between the ordinary and the apocalyptic, where we never forget that it is the breath of courageous people and of the resilient earth that keeps us alive. Of this collection, poet and pastor Patrick Cabello Hansel writes: "Most of these poems were written during one of the most difficult times for Minneapolis and the neighborhood I live and work in. We were battered by COVID, by the murder of George Floyd, the ensuing destruction of so much of the community, the threats against immigrants and the democratic process. Yet in that struggle, the breath of people and of the earth continued to sustain us. These poems reflect that power."
The pastoral poems of Shared Spaces explore people, location, events, critters, and time, through which run a common connection reflecting both community and conflict, and the consciousness of specific life cycles at various points. Technically the poems mix traditional free verse with Japanese haibun, melding together both form and the overall awareness and unity of place.
In Alexander Perez's stunning new collection, Immortal Jellyfish, Perez explores the delicate, vulnerable and beautiful nature of being human: "there is plenty/ loneliness / which always /leaves me wanting." The poet urges the reader to "declaim yourself / lived / proclaim yourself / loved/ make yourself rhythm make yourself rhyme." Perez's poems offer the reader a candid glimpse at the Queer experience.-Leah Huete de Maines, Poet-in-Residence Emerita at Northern Kentucky University
During this extremely isolating pandemic, The Unveiling was created as a wide variety of poems on diverse subjects: love, friendship and betrayal, aging and death, ekphrasis, NYC, Italy, and Greece. All of these stories, past and present, childhood and current, needed to be released into the air when our masks were finally ready to remove.
All We Have Loved offers an intimate glimpse into a woman's life spent in Western North Carolina. Expressing a reverence for family, place, and friendship, the personal essays in All We Have Loved are a testament to the importance of preserving memories. Spanning from a mother's memories of the Great Depression in a WNC cotton mill village to the author's own 1960s upbringing and current life in rural WNC, this book will enlighten and entertain the reader.
In her debut chapbook, Flight of the Quetzal, Evangeline presents a narrative of travel and self-exploration, detailing her experiences as a missionary in rural Guatemala. By interweaving scenes of present-day intercultural interactions with historical accounts of violence against Guatemala's indigenous populations, Evangeline explores the complexities of engaging with a culture and language that she will never truly know, despite her best efforts and intentions. At its core, Flight of the Quetzal is a celebration of a nation that has risen, time and time again, from the blood-washed trenches of defeat.
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