Poetry: Overview
Your guide to all things poetical, including links to the library catalog, web sites about poetry, connections to poetry happenings locally, and links to Poets in the Libraries readings.
Poetry in Action
Use these tabs to find online assistance and information about local poets.
Includes 
A series of readings at each of the library branches with featured poets and readings by community poets who live nearby. The series is hosted by Albuquerque Poet Laureate Mary Oishi, with library staff talking about the history and features of each library.
- Ernie Pyle
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- Lomas Tramway
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- South Valley
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- Taylor Ranch
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- San Pedro
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- Erna Fergusson
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- Central & Unser
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- Los Griegos
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- Cherry Hills
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- Rudolfo Anaya North Valley
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- Alamosa
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- Juan Tabo
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- South Broadway
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- Special Collections
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- Tony Hillerman
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- Westgate
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- Main
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- Poetry Playhouse
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A place for poetry and play. Featuring visiting poets, writing workshops and classes, retreats, readings, and events. - Poet-Heart - Poetry Group in Albuquerque
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Poetry group through meetup.com with a cooperative bulletin board for events, writer's groups, slams, conventions, and "madcap adventures." - ABQ Slams
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ABQSlams provides support and opportunities as well as publicizes events, educational programming through Albuquerque Public Schools, the Albuquerque correctional system and UNM. - New Mexico State Poetry Society
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Mission is to foster the appreciation and creation of poetry in the state of New Mexico. Chapters of the Society choose their own format and activities, which range from workshops, writing activities, round-robins, and youth programs.
- Shelter In Poems This National Poetry Month, we ask our readers to share a poem from our Poets.org collection that helps to find courage, solace, and actionable energy, and a few words about how or why it does so. As responses continue to arrive from across the globe, we invite you to continue sharing poems on social media with the hashtag #ShelterInPoems or by writing to us at shelter@poets.org. Whether you’re writing in or tagging us on twitter, facebook, or instagram, we will select some of your responses to feature on this special Shelter in Poems page.
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- 7 Poetry Books for People Who Don’t Like Poetry
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- A public art project in Germantown will use poetry to combat gun violence
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- 10 Years After ‘Milk and Honey’: A New Era of Accessible Poetry
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- How To Celebrate National Poetry Day
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- 2024 National Book Awards Longlist for Poetry
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- Why Poetry Should Be Read Aloud in English Classes
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- New Mexico High School Students Invited To Compete In 20th Anniversary Of National Poetry Contest
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- "Albuquerque" By Aimee Nezhukumatathil
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- Bartleby.com
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- The Library of Congress Poetry & Literature Homepage
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- Poetry Foundation
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- Poets.org
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- Project Gutenberg
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- Resources for Poets at Writers Write
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- RhymeZone
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- Writer Beware Blog
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- Duotrope's Digest
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- Living Nations, Living Words: A Guide for Educators
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- New Mexico State Library Poetry Center
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Poet's MarketThe Most Trusted Guide to Publishing Poetry! Want to get your poetry published? There's no better tool for making it happen than Poet's Market 2020, which includes hundreds of publishing opportunities specifically for poets, including listings for book and chapbook publishers, print and online poetry publications, contests, and more. These listings include contact information, submission preferences, insider tips on what specific editors want, and--when offered--payment information. In addition to the completely updated listings, the 33nd edition of Poet's Market offers articles devoted to the craft and business of poetry, including the art of finishing a poem, ways to promote your new book, habits of highly productive poets, and more.
Books on Writing Poetry for All Ages
Books on Writing Poetry
For Kids and Teens
Immersed in Verse by
Poetry's hip, poetry's hot, and poetry's a blast with this cool, contemporary guide created in the same entertaining style as the popular In Print! Kids instinctively love poetry--its rhythm, its rhymes, and its playful transformation of ordinary language. And these days, such cutting-edge, youthful forms as rap, hip-hop, and slams have made poetry more relevant than ever. With its fun facts, exciting writing activities, and words of encouragement from a respected professional, Immersed in Verse nurtures the nascent poet in every child. Best of all, these awe-inspiring ideas have nothing in common with blah school assignments. Instead, youngsters rearrange their favorite (or least favorite) poems; start their own poetry workshop; present #147;open mike night” in the basement; and record their friends reciting. Along the way, they'll open more than a few #147;poet's toolboxes.” They'll explore the wonderful world of words and learn about attitude, equipment, techniques (including #147;metaphors be with you”), different styles of verse, revising your writing, getting published, and performing.nbsp; Allan Wolf has served as the educational director for the national touring company Poetry Alive! His books include The Blood-Hungry Spleen and Other Poems about Our Parts and New Found Land. He lives in North Carolina with his wife and three children. A Selection of the Children's Book of the Month Club.
Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry by
Have you ever tried to write a poem about a pizza? How about a pig? How about a pigeon, penguin, potato, Ping-Pong, parrot, puppy, pelican, porcupine, pie, pachyderm, or your parents? Jack Prelutsky has written more than one thousand poems about all of these things--and many others. In this book he gives you the inside scoop on writing poetry and shows you how you can turn your own experiences and stories about your family, your pets, and your friends into poems. He offers tips, advice, and secrets about writing and provides some fun exercises to help you get started (or unstuck). You'll also get a behind-the-scenes look at the ingredients of some of his most popular poems. If you are a poet, want to be a poet, or if you have to write a poem for homework and you just need some help, then this is the book for you!
Poetry Matters by
Maybe you've heard before that poetry is magic, and it made you roll your eyes, but I believe it's true. Poetry matters. At the most important moments, when everyone else is silent, poetry rises to speak. I wrote this book to help you write poems and to give practical ideas for making your poems sound the way you want them to sound. We're not going to smash poems up into the tiniest pieces. This book is about writing poetry, not analyzing it. I want this book to help you have more wonderful. moments in the poetry you write. I want you to feel the power of poetry. it's my hope that through this book you will discover lots of ways to make your poems shine, sing, soar... -- Ralph Fletcher
Sophie and Sadie Build a Sonnet by
Friends Sophie and Sadie learn how to write sonnets with the help of their after-school program teacher.
How to Write a Poem by
All successful people are effective communicators. This series forms a complete set of how-to-references that give young people a solid grounding and practical pointers in all areas of spoken and written communications. Includes a bibliography, a glossary, and an index.
Catch Your Breath by
"Introduces and defines essential elements of writing poetry accompanied by compelling writing prompts for practicing new skills. Real-life author bios and excerpts enhance skills and understanding"--
How to Write a Poem by
In this evocative and playful companion to their New York Times bestselling picture book How to Read a Book, Newbery Medalist Kwame Alexander teams up with poet Deanna Nikaido and Caldecott Honoree Melissa Sweet to celebrate the magic of discovering your very own poetry in the world around you. Begin with a question like an acorn waiting for spring. From this first stanza, readers are invited to pay attention--and to see that paying attention itself is poetry. Kwame Alexander and Deanna Nikaido's playful text and Melissa Sweet's dynamic, inventive artwork are paired together to encourage readers to listen, feel, and discover the words that dance in the world around them--poems just waiting to be written down.
What Is Poetry?: the Essential Guide to Reading and Writing Poems by
Celebrated poet and critic Michael Rosen takes readers on a whirlwind tour exploring what poems are, what they can do, and the joys of reading and writing them. For thousands of years, people have been writing poetry. But what is poetry? Award-winning wordsmith Michael Rosen has spent decades thinking about that question, and in this helpful guide he shares his insights with humor, knowledge, and appreciation -- appreciation for poetry and appreciation for twenty-first-century children embarking on their own poetic journeys. Young readers are invited to join him on a welcoming exploration of the British poetic canon, replete with personal insights into what the renowned poet thinks about as he writes and advice on writing their own poetry. When he's finished, readers will be able to say with confidence: this is poetry. Included in this accessible handbook are writing tips, analyses of classic poems, and an appendix of poets and useful websites.
For Adults
Write a Poem, Save Your Life by
"Join Heller on her quest to help save the world, one poet at a time." -- from the foreword by Susan G. Wooldridge Write a Poem, Save Your Life helps writers of all ages and experience levels navigate their way through all aspects of life. With writing prompts, tools, encouragement, and moving student examples, Meredith Heller gently guides us in the art of using poetry to figure out who we are and what matters to us and to heal the deeper issues many of us face, such as depression, addiction, health and body image issues, low self-esteem, trauma, gender and sexual identity issues, and home and family problems. Along the way, we learn that writing poems helps us believe in ourselves, make positive life choices, and find direction, purpose, and meaning.
Ordinary Genius by
"The creative process is just that," maintains Kim Addonizio. "Not a means to an end, but an ongoing participation." A widely acclaimed poet and finalist for the National Book Award, Addonizio meditates on her own process as she encourages writers to explore both their personal and political worlds, to seek inspiration from poets new and old, and to discover the rich poetic resources of the Internet. Lively, accessible, and informative, Ordinary Genius?provides wisdom gleaned through personal experience and offers a heady variety of writing exercises. Chapters on gender, addiction, race and class, metaphor and line invite each individual writer to find and to hone his or her unique voice. This is the perfect book for both experienced writers and beginners eager to glimpse the angel of poetry.
The Ode Less Travelled by
I have a dark and dreadful secret. I write poetry... I believe poetry is a primal impulse within all of us. I believe we are all capable of it and furthermore that a small, often ignored corner of us positively yearns to try it. Stephen Fry, The Ode Less Travelled Stephen Fry believes that if one can speak and read English, one can write poetry. Many of us have never been taught to read or write poetry and think of it as a mysterious and intimidating form. Or, if we have been taught, we remember uncomfortable silence when an English teacher invited the class to "respond" to a poem. In The Ode Less Travelled, Fry sets out to correct this problem by giving aspiring poets the tools and confidence they need to write poetry for pleasure.Fry is a wonderfully engaging teacher and writer of poetry himself, and he explains the various elements of poetry in simple terms, without condescension. His enjoyable exercises and witty insights introduce the concepts of Metre, Rhyme, Form, Diction, and Poetics. Aspiring poets will learn to write a sonnet, on ode, a villanelle, a ballad, and a haiku, among others. Along the way, he introduces us to poets we've heard of, but never read. The Ode Less Travelledis a lively celebration of poetry that makes even the most reluctant reader want to pick up a pencil and give it a try. BACKCOVER: Advanced Praise: Delightfully erudite, charming and soundly pedagogical guide to poetic form
Fry has created an invaluable and highly enjoyable reference book. Publishers Weekly A smart, sane and entertaining return to the basics
If you like Frys comic manner
this book has a lot of charm
People entirely fresh to the subject could do worse than stick with his cheerful leadership. The Telegraph(UK)
intelligent and informative, a worthy enterprise well executed. Observer(UK) "If you learn how to write a sonnet, and Fry shows you how, you may or may not make a poem. But you will unlock the stored wisdom of the form itself." Grey Gowrie, The Spectator(UK)
intelligent and informative, a worthy enterprise well executed. Observer(UK)
Rules for the Dance by
"True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, / As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance," wrote Alexander Pope. "The dance," in the case of Oliver's brief and luminous book, refers to the interwoven pleasures of sound and sense to be found in some of the most celebrated and beautiful poems in the English language, from Shakespeare to Edna St. Vincent Millay to Robert Frost. With a poet's ear and a poet's grace of expression, Oliver shows what makes a metrical poem work - and enables readers, as only she can, to "enter the thudding deeps and the rippling shallows of sound-pleasure and rhythm-pleasure that intensify both the poem's narrative and its ideas."
The Poetry Home Repair Manual by
Recently appointed as the new U. S. Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser has been writing and publishing poetry for more than forty years. In the pages of The Poetry Home Repair Manual, Kooser brings those decades of experience to bear. Here are tools and insights, the instructions (and warnings against instructions) that poets—aspiring or practicing—can use to hone their craft, perhaps into art. Using examples from his own rich literary oeuvre and from the work of a number of successful contemporary poets, the author schools us in the critical relationship between poet and reader, which is fundamental to what Kooser believes is poetry’s ultimate purpose: to reach other people and touch their hearts.   Much more than a guidebook to writing and revising poems, this manual has all the comforts and merits of a long and enlightening conversation with a wise and patient old friend—a friend who is willing to share everything he’s learned about the art he’s spent a lifetime learning to execute so well.
Singing School by
Quick, joyful, and playfully astringent, with surprising comparisons and examples, this collection takes an unconventional approach to the art of poetry. Instead of rules, theories, or recipes, emphasizes ways to learn from great work: studying magnificent, monumentally enduring poems and how they are made— in terms borrowed from the “singing school” of William Butler Yeats’s “Sailing to Byzantium.”
Lessons from a Desperado Poet by
118 tips from America's Cowboy Poet on how to carve a living out of thin air and live with yourself while you do it "Probably the nation's most successful living poet." New York TimesPart memoir, part how-to, all Baxter Black, Lessons from a Desperado Poet is a humorous, witty take on making a living by doing the right thing and trying everything. According to Baxter Black, success "does not require a genius; it just requires the persistence of a glacier. Remember, often it's not ability that gets you ahead, it's reliability. The world is run by those who show up." A mind-tickling romp through the formation, fermentation, and fruition of the author's career as a poet in a country where publishing poetry is "practically illegal," Lessons from a Desperado Poet boldly injects a poem now and again when it is relevant, just to prove a point It's instructional for the entrepreneur, inspirational for the ambitious, and entertaining for the teeming masses. Since it is also a story of continuously overcoming the odds, Lessons from a Desperado Poet leaves a trail of self-improvement and motivational tortilla crumbs that readers will follow with delight before, that is, squirreling them away in their own cerebral pockets for later use."
You, Too, Could Write a Poem by
A collection of reviews and essays by David Orr, the New York Times poetry columnist and one of the most respected critics in America today, his best work of the past fifteen years in one place Poetry is never more vital, meaningful, or accessible than in the hands of David Orr. In the pieces collected here, most of them written originally for the New York Times, Orr is at his rigorous, conversational, and edifying best. Whether he is considering the careers of contemporary masters, such as Louise Gl#65533;ck or Frederick Seidel, sizing up younger American poets, like Matthea Harvey and Matthew Zapruder, or even turning his attention to celebrities and public figures, namely Oprah Winfrey and Stephen Fry, when they choose to wade into the hotly contested waters of the poetry world, Orr is never any less than fully persuasive in arguing what makes a poem or poet great--or not. After all, as Orr points out in his introduction, "Poetry is a lot like America, in the sense that liking all of it means that you probably shouldn't be trusted with money, or scissors." Orr's prose is devoted to common sense and clarity, and, in every case, he brings to bear an impeccable ear, an openhandedness of spirit, and a deep wealth of technical knowledge--to say nothing of his shrewd sense of humor. As pleasurable as it is informative, Orr's journalism represents a high watermark in the public discussion of literature. You, Too, Could Write a Poem is at heart a love note to poetry itself. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Call Number: eBook
How Poems Get Made by
Why does a great lyric poem ask to be reread, even after we know it by heart? In How Poems Get Made, acclaimed poet and critic James Longenbach answers this question by discussing a wide range of exemplary poems, from Shakespeare through Blake, Dickinson, and Moore, to a variety of poets making poems today. In each chapter of How Poems Get Made, Longenbach examines a specific aspect of the poetic medium--including Diction, Syntax, Rhythm, Echo, Figure, and Tone--and shows how a poet may manipulate these most basic elements to bring a poem to life.
Making of a Poem by
"Concise, learned, revisionary... should enrich the passionate conversation about poetic forms for years to come."-- Edward Hirsch, author of How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry Two of our foremost poets provide here a lucid, straightforward primer that "looks squarely at some of the headaches and mysteries of poetic form": a book for readers who have always felt that an understanding of form (sonnet, ballad, villanelle, sestina, among others) would enhance their appreciation of poetry. Tracing "the exuberant history of forms," they devote one chapter to each form, offering explanation, close reading, and a rich selection of examplars that amply demonstrate the power and possibility of that form.
Recent Poetry Titles for All Ages
New Poetry Titles
For Kids and Teens
Extraordinary Magic by
★ "Purchase this lovely picture book . . . to encourage future creators. With every page, readers will be inspired to follow their own magic." --School Library Journal, starred review This lyrical picture book biography tells the story of one of America's most celebrated children's book authors, Virginia Hamilton, the first African American to win the Newbery Medal, and is perfect for fans of Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré. Virginia was free. To be a dreamer. To be a wanderer. To be her own unique self. Free to be. Virginia Hamilton was only nine years old when she decided she would become a writer. Growing up in the countryside of Ohio, she listened to her family's stories and knew that words held extraordinary magic. From her childhood years discovering her love for storytelling, to her early adult life honing her craft in the city, Virginia found her voice in her writing as she began a career defined by her roots. Through interconnected poems, this moving biography celebrates the remarkable life of the highly decorated and much beloved Virginia Hamilton. It's a stunning tribute to a girl who dared to dream--and inspired those after her to do the same.
Nana and Me by
From the pen of world-reknowned poet, author, and Nana, JaneYolen, come 19 poems about grandmothers from around the world. This sweet collection features Nanas who dream and thosethat sing crying babies to sleep; Nanas who hold hands crossing the street andsome that learn Hopscotch; Nanas who color with you and some that go to Zoos;and other Nanas spending precious time with their precious little ones. From Spanish to Japanese, Swahilli to Yiddish, Scottish to Vietnamese,one thing is clear - No matter what language you say it in..."Grandma" means "Love." Excerpt When Nana Jane Sleeps Sometimes she snores. Sometimes she whistles. Sometimes she is so quiet, I tiptoe into her room to make sure she is all right. She always is.
Yoga, Here I Come! by
Get zen and practice some relaxing yoga moves with this collection of sweet and funny poems from the author of the hugely popular Kindergarten, Here I Come! It's time for yoga class, so grab a yoga mat and pick a pose from the new collection of poems from best-selling author D. J. Steinberg! From practicing breathing exercises to roaring into Lion Pose, these silly and heartwarming poems - plus a page of stickers! - are sure to get kids excited about the fun and relaxation of yoga.
We, the Curious Ones by
Shimmering poetry and stunning cut-paper art portray epic concepts--the evolving biography of the universe and the symbiotic relationship between science and story. Since the beginning, humans have created stories about the universe. From early mythology to modern-day science is a long journey, yet 95 percent of the world "out there" remains a mystery. What will we believe tomorrow? Marion Dane Bauer's glowing poetry combines with Hari & Deepti's intricate cut-paper illustrations, dazzling with light and shadow, to celebrate an active, vital, changing, and growing universe. They also show how we humans--the curious ones, the storytellers--are active, vital, changing, and growing, too. In a comprehensive afterword, the author tracks formative contributions to the study of the universe by Western and non-Western civilizations over the centuries.
Champion Chompers, Super Stinkers and Other Poems by Extraordinary Animals by
Learn about animal extremes through playful poems and fascinating facts. Who's tops in the animal world? Readers get to find out, as they play a guessing game that uses delightful persona poems to introduce 19 animals who are the best in some way. Each poem offers hints about the identity of an animal and what makes it so amazing. Included are popular categories, such as Biggest Animal Ever (blue whale) and Fastest Short-Distance Runner (cheetah), as well as more unexpected ones, such as Best Engineer (North American beaver) and Longest Tongue (giant anteater). Poems full of personality combined with intriguing science - what a lively and fun way to learn! Linda Ashman's original approach to the ever-popular topic of animal characteristics makes for an appealing and informative book that animal lovers of all ages can enjoy. A full right-side page is dedicated to each charming persona poem - a poem written from the animal's perspective about itself - along with an illustration by Aparna Varma showing just a peek at part of the animal. Turn the page and, on the left side, discover the mystery animal, what category it's won, some interesting facts, including how the animal's standout characteristic was measured, and a full illustration. With its introductions to both animals and persona poems, this is that rare book that works equally well for language arts and life science lessons, and as an engaging read-aloud. The content is supported by a glossary, an explanation of persona poems with an activity and more information about animal science and endangered animals.
No World Too Big by
Fans of No Voice Too Small will be inspired by young climate activists who made an impact around climate change in their communities, countries, and beyond. Climate change impacts everyone, but the future belongs to young people. No World Too Big celebrates twelve young activists and three activist groups on front lines of the climate crisis who have planted trees in Uganda, protected water in Canada, reduced school-bus climate footprint in Indonesia, invented alternate power sources in Ohio, and more. Fourteen poems by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, David Bowles, Rajani LaRocca, Renee LaTulippe, Heidi E. Y. Stemple, and others honor activists from all over the world and the United States. Additional text goes into detail about each activist's life and how readers can get involved.
Body Music: Poems about the Noises Your Body Makes by
They burp. They fart. They creak. They crack. Bodies make MUSIC! "Yolen and Van Cleave give voice to bodily noises--frombutts that "BOOM" to giggles and gasps--in a riotously silly poetry collectionperfectly tuned to a toilet humor-loving audience."--Publishers Weekly "Funny,fact-filled, and succinct, this title will have broad appeal beyond theelementary aged audience it is intended for. A recommended first purchase."--SchoolLibrary Journal And let's face it: kids love every note! In Body Music, bestselling authors Jane Yolen and Ryan G. Van Cleave bring their trademark wit to fifteen hilarious poems that celebrate the sounds of the human body, from sniffles to snaps, sneezes to wheezes, hiccups to yawns, and more! Each poem is illustrated with bright, lively artwork and is accompanied by scientific facts that answer questions like: What is a knuckle crack? Why do we sneeze? and What makes a tummy rumble? Funny and secretly educational, Body Music has it all: science, history, language arts, and farts! From the book: What Is Body Music?: It can be accidental sounds, responses to pain, surprise, fear. But there are also folk traditions of many different countries that use body percussion, which is the art of using the body to create vibrations and sounds. Examples of body percussion include West Africa's hambone, Ethiopian armpit music, and the hand clapping in Spanish Flamenco.
Zilot and Other Important Rhymes by
A New York Times Bestseller! An IndieBound Bestseller! A USA Today Bestseller! Emmy Award-winning and New York Times bestselling writer, comedian, and actor Bob Odenkirk and his daughter, illustrator Erin Odenkirk, present poetic nonsense for all ages perfect for fans of Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky! Bob Odenkirk began writing these poems with his children when they were little, compiling the poetry into a homemade book entitled Olde Time Rhymes. He wanted Nate and Erin to understand that actual people had written the books the family loved to read and to instill in them the feeling that they could be writers and illustrators themselves. Almost twenty years later, when the Odenkirks found themselves quarantined under the same roof, they revisited these mostly silly, sometimes poignant works. It wasn't until Erin began to create illustrations to accompany the words, though, that the book grew to be something much bigger than an Odenkirk family treasure. From the titular made-up word for a blanket fort, an adorable dog with a penchant for the zoomies, and a father teaching his kids how umbrellas work, the subjects of these works, complemented by Erin's whimsical and detailed linework, come alive on these pages. Featuring over seventy poems, Zilot & Other Important Rhymes will delight readers young and old.
For Adults
This Is the Honey by
In this comprehensive and vibrant poetry anthology, bestselling author and poet Kwame Alexander curates a collection of anthems for our time, at turns tender and piercing, and deeply inspiring throughout. Featuring work from well-loved poets such as Claudia Rankine, Ross Gay, Jericho Brown, Warsan Shire, Amanda Gorman, Terrance Hayes, and Nikki Giovanni, This is the Honey is a rich and abundant offering of language from the poets giving voice to generations of resilient joy. This essential collection, in the tradition of Dudley Randall's The Black Poets and E. Ethelbert Miller's In Search of Color Everywhere, contains poems exploring joy, love, origin, resistance, and praise. Jacqueline A.Trimble likens "Black woman joy" with indigo, tassels, foxes, and peacock plumes. Tyree Day, Nate Marshall, and Elizabeth Acevedo reflect on the meaning of "home" through food, from Cuban rice and beans to fried chicken gizzards. Clint Smith, Rachel Long, and Cameron Awkward-Rich enfold us in their intimate musings on love and devotion. From "jewels in the hand" (Patricia Spears Jones) to "butter melting in small pools in the hearts" (Elizabeth Alexander), This is the Honey drips with poignant and delightful imagery, music and raised fists. Marilyn Nelson puts it this way in "How I Discovered Poetry:" "It was like soul-kissing, the way the words / filled my mouth." This is the Honey is definitive, fresh, and deeply moving, a must-have for any lover of language and a gift for our time.
Spectral Evidence by
A powerful meditation on Blackness, beauty, faith, and the force of law, from the beloved award-winning author of Digest and Air Traffic Elegant, profound, and intoxicating-Spectral Evidence, Gregory Pardlo's first major collection of poetry after winning the Pulitzer Prize for Digest, moves fluidly among considerations of the pro-wrestler Owen Hart; Tituba, the only Black woman to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials; MOVE, the movement and militant separatist group famous for its violent stand-offs with the Philadelphia Police Department ("flames rose like orchids . . . / blocks lay open like egg cartons"); and more. At times cerebral and at other times warm, inviting and deeply personal, Spectral Evidence compels us to consider how we think about devotion, beauty and art; about the criminalization and death of Black bodies; about justice-and about how these have been inscribed into our present, our history, and the Western canon- "If I could be / the forensic dreamer / . . . / . . . my art would be a mortician's / paints."
In Memoriam by
GMA BUZZ PICK * INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER AND AWARD WINNER * A haunting, virtuosic debut novel about two young men who fall in love during World War I * "Will live in your mind long after you've closed the final pages." --Maggie O'Farrell, best-selling author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, The Washington Post, NPR "In Memoriam is the story of a great tragedy, but it is also a moving portrait of young love, and there is often a lightness to the book."--The New York Times It's 1914, and World War I is ceaselessly churning through thousands of young men on both sides of the fight. The violence of the front feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. News of the heroic deaths of their friends only makes the war more exciting. Gaunt, half German, is busy fighting his own private battle--an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, the glamorous, charming Ellwood--without a clue that Ellwood is pining for him in return. When Gaunt's family asks him to enlist to forestall the anti-German sentiment they face, Gaunt does so immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings for Ellwood. To Gaunt's horror, Ellwood rushes to join him at the front, and the rest of their classmates soon follow. Now death surrounds them in all its grim reality, often inches away, and no one knows who will be next. An epic tale of both the devastating tragedies of war and the forbidden romance that blooms in its grip, In Memoriam is a breathtaking debut.
The Wife of Willesden by
Zadie Smith's first time writing for the stage, a riotous twenty-first century translation of Geoffrey Chaucer's classic The Wife of Bath "Married five times. Mother. Lover. Aunt. Friend. She plays many roles round here. And never Scared to tell the whole of her truth, whether Or not anyone wants to hear it. Wife Of Willesden: pissed enough to tell her life Story to whoever has ears and eyes . . ." In her stage-writing debut, celebrated novelist and essayist Zadie Smith brings to life a comedic and cutting twenty-first century translation of Geoffrey Chaucer's classic The Wife of Bath. The Wife of Willesden follows Alvita, a Jamaican-born British woman in her mid-50s, as she tells her life story to a band of strangers in a small pub on the Kilburn High Road. Wearing fake gold chains, dressed in knock-off designer clothes, and speaking in a mixture of London slang and patois, Alvita recalls her five marriages in outrageous, bawdy detail, rewrites her mistakes as triumphs, and shares her beliefs on femininity, sexuality, and misogyny with anyone willing to listen. A thoughtful reimagining of an unforgettable narrative of female sexual power, written with singular verve and wit, The Wife of Willesden shows why Zadie Smith is one of the sharpest and most versatile writers working today.
How to Say Babylon by
A New York Times Notable Book A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! A Best Book of 2023 by the New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, Vulture, Shelf Awareness, Goodreads, Esquire, The Atlantic, NPR, and Barack Obama With echoes of Educated and Born a Crime, How to Say Babylon is the stunning story of the author's struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing, ruled by her father's strict patriarchal views and repressive control of her childhood, to find her own voice as a woman and poet. Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair's father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity, in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home. He worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure, and believed a woman's highest virtue was her obedience. In an effort to keep Babylon outside the gate, he forbade almost everything. In place of pants, the women in her family were made to wear long skirts and dresses to cover their arms and legs, head wraps to cover their hair, no make-up, no jewelry, no opinions, no friends. Safiya's mother, while loyal to her father, nonetheless gave Safiya and her siblings the gift of books, including poetry, to which Safiya latched on for dear life. And as Safiya watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under housework and the rigidity of her father's beliefs, she increasingly used her education as a sharp tool with which to find her voice and break free. Inevitably, with her rebellion comes clashes with her father, whose rage and paranoia explodes in increasing violence. As Safiya's voice grows, lyrically and poetically, a collision course is set between them. How to Say Babylon is Sinclair's reckoning with the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her; it is her reckoning with patriarchy and tradition, and the legacy of colonialism in Jamaica. Rich in lyricism and language only a poet could evoke, How to Say Babylon is both a universal story of a woman finding her own power and a unique glimpse into a rarefied world we may know how to name, Rastafari, but one we know little about.
Into the Unknown Together by
A collection of short stories, essays, poems, artwork, and more, imagining the future of New Mexico.
New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023 by
These voices rise as a canto, singing the joys, sorrows, and praises of individual experiences to form a poetry collective that encompasses the poetic-cultural landscape that is New Mexico."--Levi Romero (New Mexico Inaugural Poet Laureate) and Michelle Otero (Emerita Albuquerque Poet Laureate) New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023 is an ode and homage to nuestra querencia, our beloved homeland. Two hundred original, previously unpublished poems resonate themes including community, culture, history, identity, landscape, and water. From a diverse group of poets, the poems are introspective and personal; reflective and astute; steady and celebratory. Including poignant, unique, even humorous perspectives on life in New Mexico influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, this collective of voices serves as a welcome remedio to all aspects of post-pandemic life, for ears aching for words of beauty, strength, and solace as we emerge from the cocoon of survivability.
Poetry Unbound - 50 Poems to Open Your World by
In the tumult of our contemporary moment, poetry has emerged as an inviting, consoling outlet with a unique power to move and connect us, to inspire fury, tears, joy, laughter, and surprise. This generous anthology pairs fifty illuminating poems with poet and podcast host Pádraig Ó Tuama's appealing, unhurried reflections. With keen insight and warm personal anecdotes, Ó Tuama considers each poem's artistry and explores how its meaning can reach into our own lives. Focusing mainly on poets writing today, Ó Tuama engages with a diverse array of voices that includes Ada Limón, Ilya Kaminsky, Margaret Atwood, Ocean Vuong, Layli Long Soldier, and Reginald Dwayne Betts. Natasha Trethewey meditates on miscegenation and Mississippi; Raymond Antrobus makes poetry out of the questions shot at him by an immigration officer; Martín Espada mourns his father; Marie Howe remembers and blesses her mother's body; Aimee Nezhukumatathil offers comfort to her child-self. Through these wide-ranging poems, Ó Tuama guides us on an inspiring journey to reckon with self-acceptance, history, independence, parenthood, identity, joy, and resilience. For anyone who has wanted to try their hand at a conversation with poetry but doesn't know where to start, Poetry Unbound presents a window through which to celebrate the art of being alive.
Above Ground by
A remarkable poetry collection with "inextinguishable generosity and abundant wisdom" (Monica Youn) from Clint Smith, the #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Critics Circle award-winning author of How the Word Is Passed. Clint Smith's vibrant and compelling new collection traverses the vast emotional terrain of fatherhood, and explores how becoming a parent has recalibrated his sense of the world. There are poems that interrogate the ways our lives are shaped by both personal lineages and historical institutions. There are poems that revel in the wonder of discovering the world anew through the eyes of your children, as they discover it for the first time. There are poems that meditate on what it means to raise a family in a world filled with constant social and political tumult. Above Ground wrestles with how we hold wonder and despair in the same hands, how we carry intimate moments of joy and a collective sense of mourning in the same body. Smith's lyrical, narrative poems bring the reader on a journey not only through the early years of his children's lives, but through the changing world in which they are growing up--through the changing world of which we are all a part. Above Ground is a breathtaking collection that follows Smith's first award-winning book of poetry, Counting Descent.
Emerald Wounds by
Rediscover Joyce Mansour, the most significant Surrealist poet to emerge from 1950s Paris. "You know very well, Joyce, that you are for me--and very objectively too--the greatest poet of our time. Surrealist poetry, that's you."--André Breton Joyce Mansour, a Syrian Jewish exile from Egypt, was 25 years old when she published her first book in Paris in 1953. Her fierce, macabre, erotically charged works caught the eye of André Breton, who welcomed her into his Surrealist group and became her lifelong friend and ally. Despite her success in surrealist circles, her books received scant attention from the literary establishment, which is hardly surprising since Mansour's favorite topics happened to be two of society's greatest fears: death and unfettered female desire. Now, over half a century later, Mansour's time has come. Emerald Wounds collects her most important work, spanning the entire arc of her career, from the gothic, minimalist fragments of her first published work to the serpentine power of her poems of the 1980s. In fresh new translations, Mansour's voice surges forth uncensored and raw, communicating the frustrations, anger, and sadness of an intelligent, worldly woman who defies the constraints and oppression of a male-dominated society. Mansour is a poet the world needs today.
Daughters of Latin America Hijas de América Latina (Spanish Edition) by
UNA EXTRAORDINARIA SELECCIÓN DE OBRAS ESENCIALES, EN SU MAYORÍA INÉDITAS, QUE CELEBRAN LA FUERZA, EL TALENTO Y LA DIVERSIDAD DE LAS MUJERES LATINAS, Y TIENDEN PUENTES QUE NOS CONECTAN LAS UNAS CON LAS OTRAS. Desde la prosa implacable de sor Juana Inés de la Cruz hasta los poderosos cantos de la chamana María Sabina; desde las luchas revolucionarias de Audre Lorde, Lolita Lebrón y Berta Cáceres hasta el activismo de Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; desde los versos pioneros de Cecilia Vicuña, Maryse Condé, Nancy Morejón y Conceição Evaristo hasta la poesía transgresora de Elizabeth Acevedo, Sonia Guiñansaca y Ada Limón, 140 mujeres de América Latina y el Caribe se juntan en esta colección sin precedentes. Un fascinante universo lírico que celebra las voces nacientes, alentadas y alimentadas por quienes, con sus plumas como machetes, despejaron el camino. «Esta antología fue inspirada para reunirnos y contrarrestar juntas la invisibilización y los mitos que existen en torno a la literatura y el talento de las poderosas Hijas de América Latina, en donde quiera que estemos alzando nuestras voces: de Chicago a São Paulo, de Loíza a Asunción, de Portsmouth a Puerto Príncipe, del Bronx a Buenos Aires, de Chiapas a Los Ángeles, y más allá». --de la introducción por Sandra Guzmán. ---- AN EXTRAORDINARY SELECTION OF ESSENTIAL WORKS THAT CELEBRATE THE STRENGTH, TALENT, AND DIVERSITY OF LATINE WOMEN, AND BUILD BRIDGES THAT CONNECT US TO ONE ANOTHER. From the relentless prose of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz to the powerful chants of the shaman Maria Sabina; from the revolutionary struggles of Audre Lorde, Lolita Lebrón, and Berta Cáceres to the activism of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; from the pioneering verses of Cecilia Vicuña, Maryse Condé, Nancy Morejón, and Conceição Evaristo to the transgressive poetry of Elizabeth Acevedo, Sonia Guiñansaca, and Ada Limón, 140 women from Latin America and the Caribbean come together in this unprecedented collection. A fascinating lyrical universe that celebrates the emerging voices, nurtured and encouraged by those who, with their pens as machetes, cleared the path. "This anthology has been inspired to disrupt erasure and myths, to gather us, the powerful literary Daughters of Latin America, from Chicago to São Paulo, from Loíza to Asunción, from Portsmouth to Puerto Príncipe, from the Bronx to Buenos Aires, from Chiapas to Los Ángeles, and beyond". --from the introduction by Sandra Guzmán
Call Number: International Collection
Life Between the Tides by
Adam Nicolson explores the marine life inhabiting seashore rockpools with a scientist's curiosity and a poet's wonder in this beautifully illustrated book. The sea is not made of water. Creatures are its genes. Look down as you crouch over the shallows and you will find a periwinkle or a prawn, a claw-displaying crab or a cluster of anemones ready to meet you. No need for binoculars or special stalking skills: go to the rocks and the living will say hello. Inside each rock pool tucked into one of the infinite crevices of the tidal coastline lies a rippling, silent, unknowable universe. Below the stillness of the surface course different currents of endless motion--the ebb and flow of the tide, the steady forward propulsion of the passage of time, and the tiny lifetimes of the rock pool's creatures, all of which coalesce into the grand narrative of evolution. In Life Between the Tides, Adam Nicolson investigates one of the most revelatory habitats on earth. Under his microscope, we see a prawn's head become a medieval helmet and a group of "winkles" transform into a Dickensian social scene, with mollusks munching on Stilton and glancing at their pocket watches. Or, rather, is a winkle more like Achilles, an ancient hero, throwing himself toward death for the sake of glory? For Nicolson, who writes "with scientific rigor and a poet's sense of wonder" (The American Scholar), the world of the rock pools is infinite and as intricate as our own. As Nicolson journeys between the tides, both in the pools he builds along the coast of Scotland and through the timeline of scientific discovery, he is accompanied by great thinkers--no one can escape the pull of the sea. We meet Virginia Woolf and her Waves; a young T. S. Eliot peering into his own rock pool in Massachusetts; even Nicolson's father-in-law, a classical scholar who would hunt for amethysts along the shoreline, his mind on Heraclitus and the other philosophers of ancient Greece. And, of course, scientists populate the pages; not only their discoveries, but also their doubts and errors, their moments of quiet observation and their thrilling realizations. Everything is within the rock pools, where you can look beyond your own reflection and find the miraculous an inch beneath your nose. "The soul wants to be wet," Heraclitus said in Ephesus twenty-five hundred years ago. This marvelous book demonstrates why it is so. Includes Color and Black-and-White Photographs
Catching the Light by
U.S. Poet Laureate and winner of the 2022 Academy of American Poets Leadership Award Joy Harjo examines the power of words and how poetry summons us toward justice and healing "Her enduring message--that writing can be redemptive--resonates: 'To write is to make a mark in the world, to assert "I am."' The result is a rousing testament to the power of storytelling."--Publishers Weekly "Harjo writes as if the creative journey has been the destination all along."--Kirkus Reviews In this lyrical meditation about the why of writing poetry, Joy Harjo reflects on significant points of illumination, experience, and questioning from her fifty years as a poet. Composed of intimate vignettes that take us through the author's life journey as a youth in the late 1960s, a single mother, and a champion of Native nations, this book offers a fresh understanding of how poetry functions as an expression of purpose, spirit, community, and memory--in both the private, individual journey and as a vehicle for prophetic, public witness. Harjo insists that the most meaningful poetry is birthed through cracks in history from what is broken and unseen. At the crossroads of this brokenness, she calls us to watch and listen for the songs of justice for all those America has denied. This is an homage to the power of words to defy erasure--to inscribe the story, again and again, of who we have been, who we are, and who we can be.
