Ray's 101 Poems of Life, Death, And Many Things In Between


Book Description

On the morning of December 14, 2012, I tried to go to sleep. Just before I could slip into a deep sleep, I started to get the beginnings of a poem repeating inside my head. It started out as two rhyming sentences that kept repeating over and over in my head as I was trying to go to sleep. I eventually got up and wrote the whole poem. Later that week, as I was thinking about that poem and another poem came into my head. My girlfriend eventually joined in on the fun of finding different things to write poems on. She would say to me, “Why don’t you write a poem about this, or that?” So, when she mentioned it, I started to write about it. When I finished, I decided to compile all of the poems into a book, and share them with the rest of the world.




Ray's 101 Poems of Life, Death, and Many Things in Between


Book Description

On the morning of December 14, 2012, I tried to go to sleep. Just before I could slip into a deep sleep, I started to get the beginnings of a poem repeating inside my head. It started out as two rhyming sentences that kept repeating over and over in my head as I was trying to go to sleep. I eventually got up and wrote the whole poem. Later that week, as I was thinking about that poem and another poem came into my head. My girlfriend eventually joined in on the fun of finding different things to write poems on. She would say to me, "Why don't you write a poem about this, or that?" So, when she mentioned it, I started to write about it. When I finished, I decided to compile all of the poems into a book, and share them with the rest of the world.




Raymond Carver


Book Description

The first biography of america’s best-known short story writer of the late twentieth century. The London Times called Raymond Carver "the American Chekhov." The beloved, mischievous, but more modest short-story writer and poet thought of himself as "a lucky man" whose renunciation of alcohol allowed him to live "ten years longer than I or anyone expected." In that last decade, Carver became the leading figure in a resurgence of the short story. Readers embraced his precise, sad, often funny and poignant tales of ordinary people and their troubles: poverty, drunkenness, embittered marriages, difficulties brought on by neglect rather than intent. Since Carver died in 1988 at age fifty, his legacy has been mythologized by admirers and tainted by controversy over a zealous editor’s shaping of his first two story collections. Carol Sklenicka penetrates the myths and controversies. Her decade-long search of archives across the United States and her extensive interviews with Carver’s relatives, friends, and colleagues have enabled her to write the definitive story of the iconic literary figure. Laced with the voices of people who knew Carver intimately, her biography offers a fresh appreciation of his work and an unbiased, vivid portrait of the writer.




Japanese Death Poems


Book Description

"A wonderful introduction the Japanese tradition of jisei, this volume is crammed with exquisite, spontaneous verse and pithy, often hilarious, descriptions of the eccentric and committed monastics who wrote the poems." --Tricycle: The Buddhist Review Although the consciousness of death is, in most cultures, very much a part of life, this is perhaps nowhere more true than in Japan, where the approach of death has given rise to a centuries-old tradition of writing jisei, or the "death poem." Such a poem is often written in the very last moments of the poet's life. Hundreds of Japanese death poems, many with a commentary describing the circumstances of the poet's death, have been translated into English here, the vast majority of them for the first time. Yoel Hoffmann explores the attitudes and customs surrounding death in historical and present-day Japan and gives examples of how these have been reflected in the nation's literature in general. The development of writing jisei is then examined--from the longing poems of the early nobility and the more "masculine" verses of the samurai to the satirical death poems of later centuries. Zen Buddhist ideas about death are also described as a preface to the collection of Chinese death poems by Zen monks that are also included. Finally, the last section contains three hundred twenty haiku, some of which have never been assembled before, in English translation and romanized in Japanese.




On the Nature of Things


Book Description

The Roman philosopher's didactic poem in 6 parts, De Rerum Natura — On the Nature of Things — theorizes that natural causes are the forces behind earthly phenomena and dismisses divine intervention. Derived from the philosophical materialism of the Greeks, Lucretius' work remains the primary source for contemporary knowledge of Epicurean thought.




Poetry 180


Book Description

A dazzling new anthology of 180 contemporary poems, selected and introduced by America’s Poet Laureate, Billy Collins. Inspired by Billy Collins’s poem-a-day program with the Library of Congress, Poetry 180 is the perfect anthology for readers who appreciate engaging, thoughtful poems that are an immediate pleasure. A 180-degree turn implies a turning back—in this case, to poetry. A collection of 180 poems by the most exciting poets at work today, Poetry 180 represents the richness and diversity of the form, and is designed to beckon readers with a selection of poems that are impossible not to love at first glance. Open the anthology to any page and discover a new poem to cherish, or savor all the poems, one at a time, to feel the full measure of contemporary poetry’s vibrance and abundance. With poems by Catherine Bowman, Lucille Clifton, Billy Collins, Dana Gioia, Edward Hirsch, Galway Kinnell, Kenneth Koch, Philip Levine, Thomas Lux, William Matthews, Frances Mayes, Paul Muldoon, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sharon Olds, Katha Pollitt, Mary Jo Salter, Charles Simic, David Wojahn, Paul Zimmer, and many more.




The New Age of Soul


Book Description

In The New Age of Soul, the broad appeal of new age spirituality is identified and defined, with special attention to the claim that the soul may be understood as both the repository of divine energy and a source of spiritual healing and hope. Through dialogue with sources and perspectives on the spiritual nature of the soul, the book attempts to win the respect and appreciation of the reader already persuaded by the claims and benefits of new age spirituality while, at the same time, convincing the reader who has suspicions and concerns about new age spirituality that a better alternative may be found. The book thus has a two fold purpose: first, to expose the inadequacy, indeed, the superficiality of new age spirituality through this dialogue and discussion attracting the attention and interest of the reader already influenced by this genre. Second, the author makes a case for a more traditional, orthodox, and biblical view of the soul and human spirituality so that the reader who is inclined toward new age spirituality will rediscover the more traditional biblical content of the soul and spirituality while providing the committed, more traditional Christian reader a tool by which to communicate a biblical faith with the growing segment of our population attracted toward new age spirituality. In its own way, this book is an apologetic for a more traditional Christian theology of human spirituality and self identity presented in a positive dialogue with new age spirituality




Out of the Dust (Scholastic Gold)


Book Description

Acclaimed author Karen Hesse's Newbery Medal-winning novel-in-verse explores the life of fourteen-year-old Billie Jo growing up in the dust bowls of Oklahoma. Out of the Dust joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content!"Dust piles up like snow across the prairie. . . ."A terrible accident has transformed Billie Jo's life, scarring her inside and out. Her mother is gone. Her father can't talk about it. And the one thing that might make her feel better -- playing the piano -- is impossible with her wounded hands.To make matters worse, dust storms are devastating the family farm and all the farms nearby. While others flee from the dust bowl, Billie Jo is left to find peace in the bleak landscape of Oklahoma -- and in the surprising landscape of her own heart.




Practising Theory and Reading Literature


Book Description

Practising Theory and Reading Literature provides an accessible introduction to the study of contemporary literary theories and their applications to a range of literary texts. This is an elementary introduction where the emphasis is on practice, and in this respect it complements A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory.




The Crisis


Book Description

The Crisis, founded by W.E.B. Du Bois as the official publication of the NAACP, is a journal of civil rights, history, politics, and culture and seeks to educate and challenge its readers about issues that continue to plague African Americans and other communities of color. For nearly 100 years, The Crisis has been the magazine of opinion and thought leaders, decision makers, peacemakers and justice seekers. It has chronicled, informed, educated, entertained and, in many instances, set the economic, political and social agenda for our nation and its multi-ethnic citizens.