Download or read book Middle Distance Poems written by Stanley Plumly and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2020-08-18 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The probing, commanding final volume from "one of contemporary America’s most gifted and influential lyric poets" (David Baker, Kenyon Review). After a diagnosis of cancer, acclaimed poet Stanley Plumly found himself in the middle distance—looking back at his childhood and a rich lifetime of family and friends, while gazing into a future shaped by the press of mortality. In Middle Distance, his final collection, he pushes onward into new territory with extended hybrid forms and revelatory prose pieces. The result is the moving culmination of a long career, a work of fearless, transcendent poems that face down the impending eternal voyage. Plumly populates this collection with tender depictions of poets, family, and friends—the relationships that sustained him throughout his life—as well as unflinching self-portraits. In “White Rhino,” for instance, he adopts the voice of the “last of [his] kind,” using the rare creature as a canvas to depict the dying, aging poet himself. In “Night Pastorals,” he writes vividly and movingly about being on his deathbed, with fragmentary impressions of the other side. In profound lyric narratives, Plumly reaches out to a past that feels closer than ever, returning to the Ohio of his childhood and the shadows of a country at war. Blending documentary and memoir with his signature Keatsian lyricism, Middle Distance contemplates at every turn the horizons of Plumly’s life.
Download or read book In the Middle Distance written by Linda Gregg and published by . This book was released on 2006-02-21 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new and resplendent collection by Linda Gregg, whose poems "have the elegance of Greek statuary and the good-humored poise of haiku" (Poetry) I finally fell in love with all of it: dirt, silence, rock and far views. It's strange that my heart is as full now as my desire was then. —from "Arriving Again and Again Without Noticing" In one poem in this emotional and spiritual collection, Linda Gregg asks, "It is clear why love / took me to the shore of death, / but why did it bring me back?" In the Middle Distance, Gregg's sixth book, explores up to and beyond the crossroads of devastation and desire. There, she finds not only survival but also salvation—hard-won, resilient, and meaningful. This collection brings Gregg's passion and intensity together with a new wisdom and vitality that is unmistakably original.
Download or read book The Space Between Us written by Courtney Peppernell and published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A universal narrative on the significance of distance with love; remember to hold on to what you believe in. Ideal for those “whose love knows no bounds," The Space Between Us is full of profound anecdotes and messages, illustrating the courage and heartache of enduring physical distance. The Space Between Us explores the trials of love and what it's like to live a life separated by distance from someone you care about. Its content is thoughtfully divided into five chapters, or phases, of the long-distance experience: At First Glance Living for Tomorrow Lonely Nights Grow Together/Grow Apart When I See You. A combination of poems and prose are sporadically connected with small graphics and maps to visualize the journey of physical distance. These poems serve as an adhesive between the reader and the ones they miss, the longing, the anticipation, and the eventual relief. Though both authors bring with them a unique perspective, the lens is singular; each is attuned to navigating this complex terrain.
Download or read book The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner written by Alan Sillitoe and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nine classic short stories portraying the isolation, criminality, morality, and rebellion of the working class from award-winning, bestselling author Alan Sillitoe The titular story follows the internal decisions and external oppressions of a seventeen-year-old inmate in a juvenile detention center who is known only by his surname, Smith. The wardens have given the boy a light workload because he shows talent as a runner. But if he wins the national long-distance running competition as everyone is counting on him to do, Smith will only vindicate the very system and society that has locked him up. “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner” has long been considered a masterpiece on both the page and the silver screen. Adapted for film by Sillitoe himself in 1962, it became an instant classic of British New Wave cinema. In “Uncle Ernest,” a middle-aged furniture upholsterer traumatized in World War II, now leads a lonely life. His wife has left him, his brothers have moved away, and the townsfolk treat him as if he were a ghost. When the old man finally finds companionship with two young girls whom he enjoys buying pastries for at a café, the local authorities find his behavior morally suspect. “Mr. Raynor the School Teacher” delves into a different kind of isolation—that of a voyeuristic teacher who fantasizes constantly about the women who work in a draper’s shop across the street. When his students distract him from his lustful daydreams, Mr. Raynor becomes violent. The six stories that follow in this iconic collection continue to cement Alan Sillitoe’s reputation as one of Britain’s foremost storytellers, and a champion of the condemned, the oppressed, and the overlooked. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Alan Sillitoe including rare images from the author’s estate.
Download or read book The Grace of Distance written by Matthew Thorburn and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2019-08-14 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Grace of Distance, his poignant, far-traveling new collection of poems, Matthew Thorburn explores the ways in which we try to close the distances we experience in modern life—between doubt and faith, between cultures, between ourselves and those we love. He seeks to name, and find, that elusive, essential sense of connection humanity hungers for. In one poem, a boy places a bell in the hollow of a tree so someone might find it. In others, an overworked baker wishes for an annunciation of her own, while a man calls down into a well until another voice calls back. Set in China and America, in the present and the distant past, Thorburn’s poems examine both Eastern and Western ideas of spirituality, looking closely at the ways we can lose faith, then sometimes find it again. The poems also confront the unbridgeable distances we must live with and the perhaps surprising grace they can provide—a greater sense of perspective, understanding, and peace—even as our lives move in the only direction they can, away from the past.
Download or read book Middle Earth written by Henri Cole and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2014-08-12 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fullest culmination to date of an original voice and "a central poet of his generation" (Harold Bloom) Time was plunging forward, like dolphins scissoring open water or like me, following Jenny's flippers down to see the coral reef, where the color of sand, sea and sky merged, and it was as if that was all God wanted: not a wife, a house or a position, but a self, like a needle, pushing in a vein.—from "Olympia" In his fifth collection of verse, Henri Cole's melodious lines are written in an open style that is both erotic and visionary. Few poets so thrillingly portray the physical world, or man's creaturely self, or the cycling strain of desire and self-reproach. Few poets so movingly evoke the human quest of "a man alone," trying "to say something true that has body, / because it is proof of his existence." Middle Earth is a revelatory collection, the finest work yet from an author of poems that are "marvels—unbuttoned, riveting, dramatic—burned into being" (Tina Barr, Boston Review).
Download or read book My Thoughts Are Clouds written by Georgia Heard and published by Roaring Brook Press. This book was released on 2021-02-09 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A poetry collection that both illustrates what mindfulness is and encourages young, growing minds to be present, from poet and educator Georgia Heard, with art by Isabel Roxas. Poets have long observed the world in a mindful way. They point out beauty we might have missed, draw our attention to our inner thoughts, and call us to see our society in new ways. But as daily life become more and more chaotic, children grow distracted. According to the CDC, 9.4% of children have ADHD and 7% have anxiety/depression. And these numbers continue to climb. As treatment doctors recommend healthy eating, physical activity, plenty of sleep, and mindfulness techniques. Georgia Heard is a poet and educator—and she has long had her own meditation practice. In My Thoughts Are Clouds, she uses poetry to demonstrate what mindfulness is and gives kids—and their parents and teachers—accessible ways to learn mindfulness tools.
Download or read book The New Testament written by Jericho Brown and published by Copper Canyon Press. This book was released on 2015-10-15 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Honored as a "Best Book of 2014" by Library Journal NPR.org writes: “In his second collection, The New Testament, Brown treats disease and love and lust between men, with a gentle touch, returning again and again to the stories of the Bible, which confirm or dispute his vision of real life. 'Every last word is contagious,' he writes, awake to all the implications of that phrase. There is plenty of guilt—survivor’s guilt, sinner’s guilt—and ever-present death, but also the joy of survival and sin. And not everyone has the chutzpah to rewrite The Good Book.”—NPR.org "Erotic and grief-stricken, ministerial and playful, Brown offers his reader a journey unlike any other in contemporary poetry."—Rain Taxi "To read Jericho Brown's poems is to encounter devastating genius."—Claudia Rankine In the world of Jericho Brown's second book, disease runs through the body, violence runs through the neighborhood, memories run through the mind, trauma runs through generations. Almost eerily quiet in even the bluntest of poems, Brown gives us the ache of a throat that has yet to say the hardest thing—and the truth is coming on fast. Fairy Tale Say the shame I see inching like steam Along the streets will never seep Beneath the doors of this bedroom, And if it does, if we dare to breathe, Tell me that though the world ends us, Lover, it cannot end our love Of narrative. Don’t you have a story For me?—like the one you tell With fingers over my lips to keep me From sighing when—before the queen Is kidnapped—the prince bows To the enemy, handing over the horn Of his favorite unicorn like those men Brought, bought, and whipped until They accepted their masters’ names. Jericho Brown worked as the speechwriter for the mayor of New Orleans before earning his PhD in creative writing and literature from the University of Houston. His first book, PLEASE (New Issues), won the American Book Award. He currently teaches at Emory University and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Download or read book Distance from Loved Ones written by James Tate and published by Wesleyan University Press. This book was released on 1990-11-19 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Clear and insightful poetry on our relationship to the given world.
Download or read book Inheritance written by Taylor Johnson and published by Alice James Books. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inheritance is a black sensorium, a chapel of color and sound that speaks to spaciousness, surveillance, identity, desire, and transcendence. Influenced by everyday moments of Washington, DC living, the poems live outside of the outside and beyond the language of categorical difference, inviting anyone listening to listen a bit closer. Inheritance is about the self’s struggle with definition and assumption.
Download or read book Music of a Distant Drum written by and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-03 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 132 poems, most of which here make their English-language debut, represent the three major languages of medieval Islam--Arabic, Persian, and Turkish--with the remainder from Hebrew. They span more than a thousand years, from the seventh to the early eighteenth century, when poetry, like so much else, was shattered and reshaped by the impact of the West. They range from panegyric and satire to religious poetry and lyrics about wine, women, and love. Lewis begins with an introduction on the place of poets and poetry in Middle Eastern history and concludes with biographical notes on all the poets.
Download or read book In a Time of Distance written by Alexander McCall Smith and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2020-10-15 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What really counts in this life? For the writer, Alexander McCall Smith, it is friendship and love – themes that crop up time and again in his novels. And it is these themes that he explores in this collection of poems. In this book, divided into nine sections, the author takes you on a journey across the globe from Africa to Greece, London to Mumbai, and back home to Edinburgh. In a Time of Distance is a captivating celebration of place and people, but also of animals and books. Looking at the world through the lens of this writer it is a better, more humane place. Throughout these poems there are moments of swoop and soar, descriptions that will make you laugh and realign your view. In this collection, Alexander McCall Smith reminds us to look at the world differently, to stop once in while and look up at the sky.
Download or read book Waving from Shore written by Lisel Mueller and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 1989-12-01 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Faraway Nearby written by Rebecca Solnit and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-06-13 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award A personal, lyrical narrative about storytelling and empathy, from the author of Orwell's Roses Apricots. Her mother's disintegrating memory. An invitation to Iceland. Illness. These are Rebecca Solnit's raw materials, but The Faraway Nearby goes beyond her own life, as she spirals out into the stories she heard and read—from fairy tales to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein—that helped her navigate her difficult passge. Solnit takes us into the lives of others—an arctic cannibal, the young Che Guevara among the leprosy afflicted, a blues musician, an Icelandic artist and her labyrinth—to understand warmth and coldness, kindness and imagination, decay and transformation, making art and making self. This captivating, exquisitely written exploration of the forces that connect us and the way we tell our stories is a tour de force of association, a marvelous Russian doll of a book that is a fitting companion to Solnit's much-loved A Field Guide to Getting Lost.
Download or read book All the Poems Stevie Smith written by Stevie Smith and published by New Directions Publishing. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 847 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essential edition of one of modern poetry’s most distinctive voices: all Stevie Smith’s flabbergasting poems, now in paperback Stevie Smith is among the most popular British poets of the twentieth century. Her poem “Not Waving but Drowning” has been widely anthologized, and her life was celebrated in the classic movie Stevie. This new and updated edition includes hundreds of works from her thirty-five-year career. In addition to the poems and illustrations from all her published volumes, the Smith scholar Will May discovered never-before-published verses and provides fascinating details about their provenance. Satirical, mischievous, teasing, disarming, Stevie Smith’s poems take readers from comedy to tragedy and back again, while her line drawings are by turns unsettling and beguiling.
Download or read book Distance Between written by Stacia Leigh and published by Blackout Poetry and Art. This book was released on 2018-11-16 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." So said Betrand Russell, and I agree. Creating blackout poems, the process of choosing words from a page of text and restructuring them into poetry, is a great way to turn those forced idle moments--wasted time--into instances of creativity. After a summer of travel, where delays weren't uncommon, I made a habit of bringing my blackout poetry kit along. Selecting the right words, adding playful illustrations, and coloring became therapeutic and relaxing while waiting in hotel lobbies, train stations, and airports. Instead of watching the clock, I focused on the page in front of me, letting the words, lines, and colors take me away. Distance Between is a compilation of blackout poems made possible by all kinds of unexpected opportunities.
Download or read book Things and Flesh written by Linda Gregg and published by . This book was released on 1999-09 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Loss is a constant companion in Things and Flesh as the poet explores what lesson can be found in "the way this new silence lasts." What all the poems accomplish is to carry the grief we must all by nature endure. They carry our grief across boundaries, over time, and perhaps even beyond, into what used to be called "salvation" - but which Gregg now indicates is instead the place where poetry is made. The consolations are hard won, but no less triumphant."--BOOK JACKET.
