Angela Monique Parks is not a poet because of what she writes. She IS poetry. It is her being and her existence. Her life is an ebb-and-flow of rhythmic movement that becomes a buffet of verbiage. Angie has not invited you to read. She has invited you to sit down and feast like you were with her at her GrandmaÕs house. Her intention is not to deliver refined passages of scripted writing. You are being handed a plate of mouth-watering fried chicken, greens, yams, and hot buttery rolls. The seasoning in the verses is perfected and will satisfy every area of your palette. Get your fork and be prepared to be so full you will need a nap, but when you wake up, you are coming back for more and more again. Angie is a chef with a pen, and she has cooked up a family reunion for everyone who wants to come. Whatever you do, donÕt deprive yourself of this collection! Dr. Kathy E. Williams
Transcending Traditions. Thurayya Al-Baqsami. A Creative Compilation - Poetry, Prose and Paint is an attempt to systemise Thurayya AI-Baqsami's literary creativity as well as examining the significance of her artistic work. Barbara Michalak-Pikulska is the Head of the Arabic Department of the Institute of Oriental Philology of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. She obtained her Ph.D. in Arabic Literature from the Jagiellonian University in 1994 and now she is professor of modern Arabic Literature.
Internationally acclaimed Slovian artist Metka Krašovek created a suite of drawings inspired by the poems of Emily Dickinson. Editor Richard Jackson began gathering poems created in response to the drawings — fascinating and insightful examples of double ekphrasis. The Heart's Many Doors is a rich, cross-genre combination of writing and art that functions as a multi-faceted commentary on Dickinson, art and the creative process. 41 American poets contributed poems written in response to the artwork.
Prismatics: Larry Levis & Contemporary American Poetry is a collection of the full-length transcriptions of the extended interviews Gregory Donovan and Michele Poulos conducted with a group of America’s most notable poets—including two U.S. Poet Laureates—in making the documentary film A Late Style of Fire: Larry Levis, American Poet. These discussions cover not only their relationships with Levis and his poetry, but also more wide-ranging commentaries on a broad spectrum of American literary life. Prismatics reflects the multiple angles of perception provided by its fourteen participating poets, including David St. John (who also contributed the foreword), Philip Levine, Charles Wright, Norman Dubie, Gerald Stern, Carolyn Forché, Stanley Plumly, Colleen McElroy, David Wojahn, Carol Muske-Dukes, Kathleen Graber, Peter Everwine, Charles Hanzlicek, and Gail Wronsky. The book’s title points out that Levis’s personal and professional life as a writer provides a prism which leads these discussions to range broadly into a wider portrait of a highly influential era of poets and poetics, personified not only in Levis, but in each of the poets interviewed. In these lively, spontaneous conversations, Prismatics provides an informed and intimate portrait of the risks and triumphs of a life in poetry, a discussion of distinct intellectual, practical, and historical value that’s also emotionally involving—and quite entertaining. Advance Praise Should some Hollywood biopic ever be inspired by Michele Poulos’ stupendous documentary and these marvelous interviews, the great problem will be finding someone to play the inimitable Larry Levis. These transcriptions double as oral histories, flash memoirs, and spontaneous poetics essays not only about Levis, but about contemporary American poetry in the years spanning his larger-than-life life: 1946-1996. In one interview Carolyn Forché says, “Larry’s poems are suffused with an awareness of human presence.” The same must be said of this rich and spirited collection. —Terrance Hayes, author of American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin Larry Levis was the genius of our generation; he was the star risen out of a constellation of poets coming from Fresno. In Prismatics, many of our most notable poets offer insightful, personal, and detailed responses to and assessments of Larry’s life and work. Especially touching and salient are the interviews with Philip Levine, Peter Everwine, C.G. Hanzlicek, and David St. John, Fresno poets and friends who knew him best and who knew Larry from the start. They testify to his talent, humanity, and unmatched originality and voice. For lovers of Larry’s poetry, of contemporary poetry, this is an invaluable collection. —Christopher Buckley, author of A Condition of the Spirit As I read through the interviews in Prismatics, I found myself pausing in the middle of chapters, rather than between them, so as to savor the feeling of always being immersed in a rich and rewarding conversation. I love the cumulative warmth of this book, of so many poets speaking affectionately and thoughtfully about one of the great American poets of the 20th century—as friend, colleague, lover, co-conspirator, and cynosure. But more than a commemoration of Larry Levis, Prismatics offers meditations on passion, creativity, self-destruction, ambition, and the nature of literary legacy. It’s a book as capacious and complex as the poetry of Levis itself. —Nicky Beer, author of The Octopus Game and The Diminishing House
For decades, poetry therapy has been formally recognized as a valuable form of treatment, and it has been proven effective worldwide with a diverse group of clients. The second edition of Poetry Therapy, written by a pioneer and leader in the field, updates the only integrated poetry therapy practice model with a host of contemporary issues, including the use of social media and slam/performance poetry. It’s a truly invaluable resource for any serious practitioner, educator, or researcher interested in poetry therapy, bibliotherapy, writing, and healing, or the broader area of creative/expressive arts therapies.
David Hamilton has produced a collection of stories rooted in medieval forms but with contemporary concerns. While a poem is a subject it is also a journey and takes the reader to a higher state of consciousness as music does. People now like to pigeon hole everyone but Hamilton aims for versatility. A writers have their own styles and certain themes and ideas are foremost but each book is also meant to be original and have different features from the others. It is interesting to discuss whether Hamilton has created his own genre in that he writes books of poems which have essential features in common and can be called concept poems. The concept is thematic and crosses over individual poems.Storyteller is told by Hamilton at the Storytellers Festival and features stories in verse which take us through imaginative worlds where we encounter real life experiences and thus on to a higher state of awareness. In his preface to Lyrical Ballads Wordsworth talked of the need to create his own audience for his new form, but here we are drawn into the train of poetry and find common experience we share.This collection is slightly different in style and technique from the previous poetry books and incorporates songs and music which was stepping into the unknown It is developed from a primary idea in this case Storyteller which is inspiration, rather than rational development from a plan.Readers of historical fiction, fact, and especially Shakespeare fans, I'm sure, will enjoy this book. It's very educational. If published online, American readers will probably be the largest audience. I'm sure they'll enjoy the Englishness of it, especially well-educated academics for the exquisite use of language.
A modern poetry anthology that includes the work of a second generation of Asian American poets who are taking the best of the prior generation, but also breaking conventional patterns.
'Poetry is what gets lost in translation.' --Robert Frost Giving voice to ''what gets lost in translation'' is the challenge every poet faces. With The Everything Writing Poetry Book, that challenge just got easier. Featuring examples from works of celebrated poets and instruction on communicating your ideas, this clear and accessible reference helps you gain confidence as you find your own voice. Written by a team who each hold a master’s degree and teach creative writing and literature, this easy-to-follow guide has all you need to take your work to the next level. With this handy guide, you will learn to: Create meter and rhyme Express your innermost thoughts Use imagery and metaphor Polish your word play Find your own rhythm Work with other writers and more The Everything Writing Poetry Book helps you make the most of this rewarding craft - whether you’re a fledgling poet or a seasoned wordsmith.
Teaching Poetry Writing: A Five Canon Approach is a comprehensive alternative to the full-class workshop approach to poetry writing instruction. In the five canon approach, peer critique of student poems takes place in online environments, freeing up class time for writing exercises and lessons based on the five canons of classical rhetoric: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery.
Join us on a poetic journey to the soul of India. The Poetry of T.V. Reddy is grounded in human struggles and unrest, social as well as psychological and depicts the varied shades of restlessness that is the order of modern times. He protests against the social ills and evils in a gripping way in his absorbing poetry. He paints his experiences in a characteristic choice diction and the different images that he has carved out of human life and nature make a deep impression on the minds of the readers and linger there. The poet takes the readers into the soul of India, the villages and rural life which are the backbone of the countryóthat speaks volumes of his commitment to rural element and makes people come alive in his poetry. Natural rhyme and rhythm of the poems creates the pleasing melody. Clarity of thought and lucidity of expression, splendid imagery and marvelous melody are the hallmarks of his poetry. -- Dr. P.V. Laxmiprasad, Editor T.V. Reddy is not only a poet of highly perceptive temperament but also an accomplished critic and novelist. His awesome ingenious insight into the purpose and meaning of life in a perceptive and intuitive way leads the reader to the invisible force meticulously driving the point that the spiritual region lying within a man offers solace, harmony and consolation par excellence. For Reddy often finds strong affinity in Indian soil and here, rural backdrop inspires him to cultivate niceties of life where rural-oriented background turns out religious for him. -- P.C.K. Prem, Authoritative critic on Indian English Poetry from Himachal Paradesh, India T.V. Reddy's poems have the earthly smear of sweat and blood. Images crystallized, come alive in subtle but strong words gaining a permanent place in the hearts of the readers. His pen moves carving lasting images in a simple and straight form without any pompous gimmicks in the name of modern craft. His art of highlighting even tiny specks into gigantic monuments and the quality of lyrical writing gives a sense of exhilaration bringing the varied themes alive before our eyes elevating the soul to a higher consciousness. T.V. Reddy is a poet in the true sense, who gives us the best of the poetry in Indian English. -- D.H. Kabadi, from his review of Melting Melodies in Poetcrit T.V. Reddy is a skilled poet who handles thoughts that compel recognition. He deals with wide ranging themes that are sensitively sketched. While many poems capture common human tendencies and susceptibilities, vanities and vagaries with a sharp realist eye, there are some that move on to the dramatization of a grander perspective of eternity intruding into time to seek to redeem it of its ravages. -- Prof. C.R.Visveswar Rao, Former Vice Chancellor, Vikrama Simhapuri University, Nellore, A.P., India; and currently the Chairman, Indian Society for Commonwealth Studies (ISCS) , New Delhi From Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com
