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Ceremonies Of The Damned: Poems by Adrian C. Louis


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A Poetry Collection


E.E. Cummings - 2001
    Cummings's affirmation of life resolved into serenity as he described himself as someone "whose only happiness is to transcend himself, whose every agony is to grow." This collection of Cummings reading his own poetry embodies this in an unforgettable way.While perhaps best remembered for his use of such visual devices as typography and punctuation, the sheer sound of Cummings's work imparts a greater, deeper understanding of how its cadences reveal its profound meaning. This rich sampling of his poems and lectures is rendered in what the great Robert Graves called Cummings "own beautifully modulated voice."

The Complete Posthumous Poetry


César Vallejo - 1978
    Eshleman and his present collaborator, Jose Rubia Barcia, have not only rendered these complex poems into brilliant and living English, but have also established a definitive Spanish test based on Vallejo's densely rewritten manuscripts. In recreating this modern master in English, they have also made a considerable addition to poetry in our language."

And Short the Season


Maxine Kumin - 2014
    In And Short the Season she muses on mortality: her own and that of the earth. Always deeply personal, always political, these poems blend myth and modernity, fecundity and death, and the violence and tenderness of humankind.

Waiting for an Echo: The Madness of American Incarceration


Christine Montross - 2020
    Christine Montross has spent her career treating the most severely ill psychiatric patients. Several years ago, she set out to investigate why so many of her patients got caught up in the legal system when discharged from her care--and what happened to them therein.Waiting for an Echo is a riveting, rarely seen glimpse into American incarceration. It is also a damning account of policies that have criminalized mental illness, shifting large numbers of people who belong in therapeutic settings into punitive ones.The stark world of American prisons is shocking for all who enter. But Dr. Montross' expertise--the mind in crisis-- allowed her to reckon with the human stories behind the bars. A father attempting to weigh the impossible calculus of a plea bargain. A bright young woman whose life is derailed by addiction. Boys in a juvenile detention facility who, desperate for human connection, invent a way to communicate with one another from cell to cell. Overextended doctors and correctional officers who strive to provide care and security in environments riddled with danger. In these encounters, Montross finds that while our system of correction routinely makes people with mental illness worse, just as routinely, it renders mentally stable people psychiatrically unwell. The system is quite literally maddening.Our methods of incarceration take away not only freedom, but also selfhood and soundness of mind. In a nation where ninety-five percent of all inmates are released from prison and return to our communities, this is a practice that punishes us all.

Roll Deep: Poems


Major Jackson - 2015
    And like his best work to date, these poems create new experiences with language owed to Jackson’s willingness to once again seek a rhythmic sound that expresses the unique realities of the twenty-first century with humor and understanding. Whether set in Nairobi, Madrid, or Greece, the poems are sensuously evocative and unapologetically with-it, in their effort to build community across borders of language and style.From Urban Renewal, “The Dadaab Suite”:I have come to Dadaab like an actoron a press release, unprepared for the drained facesof famine-fleeing refugees, my craft’s glamourdimmed by hundreds of infant graves, childrenwhose lolling heads’ final drop landed on their mothers’backs like soft stones. What beauty can I spell inthis swelter of dust?

Riding Westward


Carl Phillips - 2006
    What is the difference, he asks, between good and evil, cruelty and instruction, risk and trust? Against the backdrop of the natural world, Phillips pitches the restlessness of what it means to be human, as he at once deepens and extends a meditation on that space where the forces of will and imagination collide with sexual and moral conduct.

The Wind Blows Through the Doors of My Heart: Poems


Deborah Digges - 2010
    Here are poems that bring to life her rural Missouri childhood in a family with ten children (“Oh what a wedding train / of vagabonds we were who fell asleep just where we lay”); the love between men and women as well as the devastation of widowhood (“love’s house she goes dancing her grief-stricken dance / for his unpacked suitcases, . . . / . . . / his closets of clothes where I crouch like a thief”); and the moods of nature, which schooled her (“A tree will take you in, flush riot of needles light burst, the white pine / grown through sycamore”). Throughout, touching all subjects, either implicitly or explicitly, is the call to poetry itself.The final work from one of our finest poets, The Wind Blows Through the Doors of My Heart is a uniquely intimate collection, a sustaining pleasure that will stand to remind us of Digges’s gift in decades to come.

Dark Sparkler


Amber Tamblyn - 2015
    As such she is deeply fascinated-and intimately familiar—with the toll exacted from young women whose lives are offered in sacrifice as starlets. The stories of these actresses, both famous and obscure-tragic stories of suicide, murder, obscurity, and other forms of death—inspired this empathic and emotionally charged collection of new poetic work. Featuring subjects from Marilyn Monroe and Frances Farmer to Dana Plato and Brittany Murphy—and paired with original artwork commissioned for the book by luminaries including David Lynch, Adrian Tome, Marilyn Manson, and Marcel Dzama—Dark Sparkler is a surprising and provocative collection from a young artist of wide-ranging talent, culminating in an extended, confessional epilogue of astonishing candor and poetic command. Actresses featured in Dark Sparkler include:Marilyn MonroeBrittany MurphyDana PlatoJayne MansfieldJean HarlowDominique DunneSharon TateHeather O’RourkeBridgette AndersenShannon Michelle WilseyJudith BarsiPeg EntwistleCarole LandisAnissa JonesSusan PetersBarbara La MarrLucy GordonSirkka SariLi ToblerThelma ToddSamantha SmithLupe ValezTaruni SachdevRebecca Shaeffer

Some Things I Still Can't Tell You: Poems


Misha Collins - 2021
    Trademark wit and subtle vulnerability converge in each poem; this book is both a celebration of and aspiration for a life well lived.This book is a compilation of small observations and musings. It's filled with moments of reflection and a love letter to simple joys: passing a simple blade of grass on the sidewalk, the freedom of peeing outdoors late at night, or the way a hand-built ceramic mug feels when it's full of warm tea on a chilly morning. It's a catalog and a compendium that examines the complicated experience of being all too human and interacting with a complex, confounding, breathtaking world … and a reminder to stop and be awake and alive in yourself.

A Green Light


Matthew Rohrer - 2004
    Over and over these poems leave us convinced that we’ve learned something very important and mysterious, yet we can’t say exactly what.

The Universe of Us


Lang Leav - 2016
    Lang Leav presents a completely new collection of poetry with a celestial theme in The Universe of Us.Planets, stars, and constellations feature prominently in this beautiful, original poetry collection from Lang Leav.  Inspired by the wonders of the universe, the best-selling poetess writes about love and loss, hope and hurt, being lost and found.  Lang's poetry encompasses the breadth of emotions we all experience and evokes universal feelings with her skillfully crafted words.

A Wedding in Hell


Charles Simic - 1994
    “Provocative...a tantalizing, beautiful fusion of visions” (Bloomsbury Review).

The Moretti Novels Box Set


M.J. Carnal - 2014
    After years of success and the world at his feet, he is determined to make that pact a reality. A move back to his beloved Los Angeles threatens to change the future he had written for himself when the shy and beautiful, Sophie Barringer, ends up being the Maid of Honor at his sister's wedding. Sophie has been burned at love. The last thing she needs is a self proclaimed bachelor to turn her head. Forced to spend a week together in paradise, can they deny their chemistry and stay away from each other or will they give in to lust and take the chance? Can Mark get over his player reputation to take a shot at love or will fate be cruel enough to deny them their happily ever after? Taming the Playboy: Ryan West learned at an early age that forever is never promised. Deciding to live each moment to the fullest, Ryan spends his days as a personal trainer to the rich and famous and his nights in the arms of a vast array of women. As a playboy, his motto is to work hard but play even harder. When his best friend introduces him to his attractive and soon to be sister in law, Ryan doesn’t think twice about throwing caution to the wind and bedding the woman that should be off limits. The sparks that ignite between them are undeniable and he struggles to push her memory from his mind. Knowing happily ever after only happens in fairytales, Layla Barringer has lived her life with a wild streak of her own. Knowing about his revolving door of women, she decides to enjoy one night with no strings attached. When personal tragedy strikes, they are left with only two options. Aware of their growing attraction to each other, will they work together and face adversity head on or will fear and heartbreak send them running in opposite directions? Taming the Boy Next Door: Caleb Allen was your typical boy next door. As one of the original Moretti men, he caught the eye of countless women with his clean cut good looks and chivalry. But behind closed doors, he commanded attention, becoming a dominant force that was anything but timid. After a misunderstanding that jeopardized the well-being of the group and a near fatal accident that nearly cost him his best friend, Mark Moretti, Caleb was determined to become the loyal and devoted man he had been in the past. The minute Dr. Jena Turner stepped from the ICU with news of Mark’s condition, Caleb’s world spun off its axis. Several chance encounters only deepened his desire to make her his. He longed to prove that the life he preferred was one of pleasure and passion. Jena Turner has a secret that haunts her. Hiding from her past, a simple moment in the heat of passion sends her running in fear. An unlikely confidant can either push her back into Caleb’s arms or give him a taste of his own medicine. Taming Casanova:As the Casanova of the Moretti Men, Kevin Merck's conquests were legendary. But life isn’t always what it seems. After saving his best friend, Ryan West, with a bone marrow transplant, he became a permanent fixture in the Moretti family. While everyone was getting their lives back, something went terribly wrong. Keeping his secret was a risk he was willing to take to protect those he loved most. Kevin spent his days in the gym as a personal trainer and traveled the country as the face of a fitness franchise. Hot and steamy, he had his choice of women in every city. He had never met a woman he couldn’t charm the pants off, until he met the clever and smart mouthed Andi Allen. Her fiery personality and witty comebacks drew him in and wouldn’t let go. But when things seem too good to be true, they often are. People can be gone in the blink of an eye. The Moretti family is rocked to the core.

Glory Days in Tribe Town: The Cleveland Indians and Jacobs Field 1994-1997


Terry Pluto - 2014
    . . a sparkling new ballpark . . . wild comeback victories . . . a record sellout streak . . . two trips to the World Series . . . and a city crazed with Indians fever.Revisit baseball's most fearsome lineup: Albert Belle's mighty swing and ferocious glare . . . Jim Thome's moon-shot home runs . . . Omar Vizquel's poetry-in-motion play at shortstop . . . Kenny Lofton's exhilarating baserunning and over-the-wall catches . . .These two Cleveland baseball veterans were there for it all. Now, they combine firsthand experience and in-depth player interviews to tell a rich, detailed story that Tribe fans will love.

Watering the Soul


Courtney Peppernell - 2021
    Watering the Soul is a timeless reminder that everyone needs time, love, and forgiveness.In the deepest, most enchanting part of the forest, a creature hands you a seed. Within the seed is your soul, ready to be grown again.From internationally bestselling author Courtney Peppernell comes her new book of poetry and prose, Watering the Soul. In true Peppernell style, the book is divided into sections, this time following a step-by-step recipe, to heal your soul. Filled with themes that focus on forgiveness, gratitude, togetherness, and equality, Peppernell takes you on a journey to find a precious yet profound understanding; that a seed is not grown with haste and nor is becoming whole, that in each and every step, we find the meaning of watering the soul. This is the story of your soul and how it can be grown again.