Embrace the Spirit: Poetic Pathways to the Soul (The Spiritual Poetry Series) by Kamlesh Acharya

Welcome to the world where the lark doesn't sing because the sun is rising but the sun rises to hear the lark sing.

Imagine a world where you can drink the fragrance and taste the wind. Let's meet life at a traffic junction, and witness the sun that always rises and dance to the tune divine.

Let's stay a while in a place where dreaded loneliness turns into tranquil solitude. Ever wondered where constant denial of 'who you are' can take you?

Let's meet the poet who seeks deeper answers and yet falters time and again, who confesses that at times he acts like a jerk, and his poems become a beacon for him to find his way back.

Let's explore the life of a rose that wants to become a coconut.

Is love a quid pro quo? If your love were a balloon, what would your lover be?

Ever wondered what would happen if the mind ended? The answer might surprise you.

Curious about what separates an enlightened master from the normal folks?

"Embrace the Spirit" is a collection of evocative and introspective poetry that delves into the essence of human existence, the interplay of emotions, and the profound connections we share with the universe. Through lyrical verses and vivid imagery, this anthology invites readers to explore themes of love, self-discovery, spirituality, and the natural world.

The poems reflect a journey of awakening and understanding, encouraging a deeper appreciation of life's fleeting moments and the silent, transformative beauty found within and around us. This collection is an ode to the enduring spirit that binds us all and a celebration of a seeker's unending quest for meaning and the yearning for the truth that is behind all the drama called life.

Kamlesh Acharya's first poetry book 'Kindle the Spirit' won 'The Best English Poetry Book' award at Lit-o-Fest, Mumbai in 2015. Immerse in his latest anthology of spiritual poetry and find answers for questions that you have been asking for a long time, through vivid poetic imagination and spiritual depth

Gospel Poems by Donal Hill

Did you have the nudge to pick up this book?

Great- Gospel Poems is an easy read with vibrant illustrations and inspired by the Bible. Simple yet not changing any of it.

While you read these poems - compare your heart like it's a door without a door knob on the outside. You have to open your hearts door to let him in because Jesus won't do it for you.

By the way, the nudge you felt to pick up this book was from God!

Larnaca's World Poetry Festival (Cyprus) - Διεθνές Φεστιβάλ Ποίησης Λάρνακας, 29/4 - 1/5/22

Chasing Away Sunsets: A Book of Poetry and Prose by Robert Francis Gerace

This book, through poetry and prose, along with representational artwork, expresses the gamut of an individual’s emotions. Love, sorrow, affection, beauty, pain, loss, prejudice, and psychological tribulations are just some of the topics illuminated in this anthology. They encompass life’s journeys and the effects those journeys have on the human condition

Juneteenth Poetry Slam 2023- Jonkel

Juneteenth Poetry Slam 2023- ROUND 2

How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope by James Crews , and Ross Gay (Foreword)

More and more people are turning to poetry as an antidote to divisiveness, negativity, anxiety, and the frenetic pace of life. How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope offers readers uplifting, deeply felt, and relatable poems by well-known poets from all walks of life and all parts of the US, including inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, Joy Harjo, Naomi Shihab Nye, Ross Gay, Tracy K. Smith, and others. The work of these poets captures the beauty, pleasure, and connection readers hunger for. How to Love the World, which contains new works by Ted Kooser, Mark Nepo, and Jane Hirshfield, invites readers to use poetry as part of their daily gratitude practice to uncover the simple gifts of abundance and joy to be found everywhere. With pauses for stillness and invitations for writing and reflection throughout, as well as reading group questions and topics for discussion in the back, this book can be used to facilitate discussion in a classroom or in any group setting

Juneteenth Poetry Slam 2023- The Charles Hines

The Book of Korean Poetry: Songs of Shilla and Koryo by Kevin O'Rourke

Korea’s history is divided into four periods: the Three Kingdoms of Koguryo (37 bc–ad 668), Shilla (57 bc–ad 668), and Paekche (18 bc–ad 660); Unified Shilla (668–935); Koryo (935–1392); and Choson (1392–1910). Kevin O’Rourke’s The Book of Korean Poetry traces Korean poetry from the pre-Shilla era to the end of Korea’s golden poetry period in the Koryo dynasty.There are two poetry traditions in Korea: hanshi (poems by Korean poets in Chinese characters) and vernacular poems, which are invariably songs. Hanshi is a poetry to be read and contemplated; the vernacular is a poetry to be sung and heard. Hanshi was aimed at personal cultivation, vernacular poetry primarily at entertainment. Hanshi was a much more private discipline; vernacular poetry was composed for the most part against a convivial background of wine, music, and dance. In this comprehensive treatment of the poetry of Shilla and Koryo, O’Rourke divides one hundred fifty poems into five sections: Early Songs, Shilla hanshi, Shilla hyangga, Koryo kayo, and Koryo hanshi and shijo. Only a few pre-Shilla poems are extant; O’Rourke features all five. All fourteen extant Shilla hyangga are included. Seventeen major Koryo kayo are featured; only a few short, incantatory pieces that defied translation were excluded. Fourteen of the fewer than twenty Koryo shijo with claims to authenticity are presented. From the vast number of extant hanshi, O’Rourke selected poems with the most intrinsic merit and universal appeal. In addition to introductory essays on the genres of hanshi, hyangga, Koryo kayo, and shijo, O’Rourke interleaves his graceful translations with commentary on the historical backgrounds, poetic forms, and biographical notes on the poets’ lives as well as guides to the original texts, bibliographical materials, and even anecdotes on how the poems came to be written. Along with the translations themselves, O’Rourke’s annotations of the poems make this volume a particularly interesting and important introduction to the scholarship of East Asian literature

My Heart Does Not Whisper: POETRY: VOLUME 1 by Aurelia Folk

Combining an old-fashioned style of poetry 

with the modern emotional experience, this debut volume of poems by AURELIA FOLK delves into themes of unrequited love, spirituality, nature, and more for the reader to connect with on a deep and personal level. The customer can expect each page in this book to consist of multiple short poems and occasionally longer ones which hold structure, rhyme, and emotive power and will resonate to an imaginative and intellectual mind. Also included is a detailed table of contents for the ease of locating poems

Juneteenth Poetry Slam 2023- Whit the Poet

Esce una nuova raccolta poetica dal titolo Cantico degli amanti – Dalla parte del marito di Sabatina Napolitano per i Quaderni del Bardo Edizioni

Una nuova raccolta poetica intitolata “Cantico degli amanti – Dalla parte del marito” è disponibile sugli scaffali, pubblicata da I Quaderni del Bardo Edizioni di Stefano Donno. L’autrice, Sabatina Napolitano, si impegna in una rilettura e riscrittura del “Cantico dei Cantici di Salomone”, distribuendo l’opera in sei sezioni che esplorano varie sfaccettature dell’amore. La prefazione del volume è stata curata da Pasquale Vitagliano, mentre Gianpaolo G. Mastropasqua ha offerto la sua già riconosciuta esperienza per la postfazione.

L’estasi amorosa è imponderabile. Il sentimento amoroso è indomabile. Le forme più comuni per rappresentarlo riempiono di sabbia le mani di chi voglia comprenderlo realmente. Non bastano le frasi rimate nascoste nei cioccolatini, neppure le meccaniche del sesso epigrammatico. Per fare un’esperienza di quanto rovente possa essere la materia dell’amore e nello stesso istante vibrante di una tensione mistica estrema fino al punto in cui dolore e piacere si toccano sorpresi, si può leggere questo Cantico degli amanti – dal lato del marito di Sabatina Napolitano. Come precisa la stessa autrice, la raccolta è un poema che rilegge (e riscrive) il Cantico dei Cantici di Salomone. Si divide in sei sezioni. In una di queste l’amante-marito diventa eteronomo della stessa poetessa. Mario Luzi, Herman Hesse, Özdemir Asaf, Hafez, ci accompagnano con i loro testi in questa inchiesta amorosa.

 

Mentre mi spogli diglielo a dio/ che per te sono la California, New York./ Diglielo a dio che io sono tutte le tue città. Prima e fuori da ogni lettura allegorica, ammesso che ce ne sia una, la sorgente di questo testo è il profondo desiderio amoroso dell’autrice. Sgorga dal profondo, l’eco risale da distanze lontanissime che non serve né colmare né esplorare, in quanto contengono la matrice da cui tracima il magma poetico, un mistero che invita alla conoscenza, non al disvelamento. Di questo fuoco scuro/ possa bruciare il tuo desiderio/ fin tanto che non lo spegni a me vicino./ (…) Sono una stella dal fuoco scuro,/ bevo vino dormendo con santi e poeti. Il fuoco è l’elemento che alimenta la vis poetica della Napolitano. (dalla prefazione di Pasquale Vitagliano)

 

‘‘Questa raccolta, coraggiosa e intenzionalmente a tratti scentrata dal proprio tempo, nonostante l’utilizzo talvolta di lemmi ‘social’, è in realtà un viaggio nella divergenza del sentire dove tutti i numi tutelari personali della poesia d’amore, orientali e occidentali, vengono convocati benché sfiorati, vengono invocati per salvare il nostro tempo dall’assenza d’Amore. In virtù e in correlazione con il Cantico delle origini, il marito e la moglie potrebbero sia essere maschio e femmina reali, sia coppia idealizzata o adamitica, nonchè estrema metafora, ossia rimanderebbero a Dio che ha in sposa la Terra/Umanità. Sabatina Napolitano, che può vantare una rara e sedimentata conoscenza letteraria contemporanea in rapporto alla giovane età, sia per il suo percorso personale che per la sua evoluzione e trasversalità in scrittura, è da ritenersi senza alcun dubbio, e questa raccolta lo conferma, tra le più autentiche poetesse italiane della sua generazione’’. 

(dalla postfazione di Gianpalo G. Mastropasqua)

 

Sabatina Napolitano, classe ‘89, è una poetessa, scrittrice, insegnante. Suoi testi sono apparsi nella rivista Gradiva, su La poesia e lo Spirito, Nazione Indiana, Neobar, Poesia del nostro tempo e diverse altre testate. La sua prima raccolta poetica è del 2010. Ha pubblicato un romanzo e otto libri di poesia.

Juneteenth Poetry Slam 2023- SlimTruth

Juneteenth Poetry Slam- Eddie Figures

Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver presents a personal selection of her best work in this definitive collection spanning more than five decades of her esteemed literary career.

“No matter where one starts reading, Devotions offers much to love, from Oliver's exuberant dog poems to selections from the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Primitive, and Dream Work, one of her exceptional collections. Perhaps more important, the luminous writing provides respite from our crazy world and demonstrates how mindfulness can define and transform a life, moment by moment, poem by poem.” —The Washington Post

“It’s as if the poet herself has sidled beside the reader and pointed us to the poems she considers most worthy of deep consideration.” —Chicago Tribune

Throughout her celebrated career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her brilliantly crafted verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. Identified as "far and away, this country's best selling poet" by Dwight Garner, she now returns with a stunning and definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years.

Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver's work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. This timeless volume, arranged by Oliver herself, showcases the beloved poet at her edifying best. Within these pages, she provides us with an extraordinary and invaluable collection of her passionate, perceptive, and much-treasured observations of the natural world.

Dog Songs: Poems by Mary Oliver

“The popularity of [Dog Songs] feels as inevitable and welcome as a wagging tail upon homecoming.” —The Boston Globe

 

Mary Oliver’s Dog Songs is a celebration of the special bond between human and dog, as understood through the poet’s relationships to the canines that have accompanied her daily walks, warmed her home, and inspired her work. Oliver’s poems begin in the small everyday moments familiar to all dog lovers, but through her extraordinary vision, these observations become higher meditations on the world and our place in it.

Dog Songs includes visits with old friends, like Oliver’s beloved Percy, and introduces still others in poems of love and laughter, heartbreak and grief. Throughout, the many dogs of Oliver’s life merge as fellow travelers and as guides, uniquely able to open our eyes to the lessons of the moment and the joys of nature and connection

Juneteenth Poetry Slam 2023- D-Rod

Juneteenth Poetry Slam 2023- Slam Anderson (SACRIFICIAL POET)

All Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts for Boundless Living – Illustrated by Morgan Harper Nichols

 A celebration of hope. An encounter with grace. A restoration of the heart. A healing of wounds. An anthem of freedom. All Along You Were Blooming is the ultimate love letter from the pen of popular Instagram poet Morgan Harper Nichols to your mind, heart, soul, and body.

On Instagram @morganharpernicols, Morgan has over a million followers. Fans can add Morgan's beautiful artwork and thoughts for boundless living to their library.

All Along You Were Blooming is a striking collection of illustrated poetry and prose, inviting you to "stumble into the sunlight" and delight in the wild and boundless grace you've been given. Morgan reminds you:

• There is a purpose in every season
• No matter how you want to race through this day or run away from this place, you are invited to live fully--right here, right now
• Light will always find you, even when the sun sets and you sit awaiting the dawn
• That you are always blooming in the way you were meant to

All Along You Were Blooming is perfect:

• For men and women of all ages
• For teachers to share with classrooms during poetry focused lessons
• Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, National Best Friend Day, birthdays, and holiday gifting

In each small moment, whether in the light or the dark, you can make room for becoming, for breathing, for stumbling, and for simply being--for there is grace, today and every day.

Water, Water: Poems by Billy Collins

From the former Poet Laureate of the United States and New York Times bestselling author of Aimless Love comes a wondrous new collection of poems focused on the joys and mysteries of daily life.

"[Billy] Collins remains the most companionable of poetic companions."—The New York Times

In this collection of sixty new poems, Billy Collins writes about the beauties and ironies of everyday experience. A poem is best, he feels, when it begins in clarity but ends with a whiff of mystery.

In Water, Water, Collins combines his vigilant attention and respect for the peripheral to create moments of delight. Common and uncommon events are captured here with equal fascination, be it a cat leaning to drink from a swimming pool, a nurse calling a name in a waiting room, or an astronaut reciting Emily Dickinson from outer space. With his trademark lyrical informality, Collins asks us to slow down and glimpse the elevated in the ordinary, the odd in the familiar. It’s no surprise that The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal both call Collins one of America’s favorite poets.

The Monet Conundrum

Is every one of these poems

different from the others

he asked himself,

as the rain quieted down,

or are they all the same poem,

haystack after haystack

at different times of day,

different shadows and shades of hay?

2023 Nat’l & Int’l Beat Poetry Festival - End of 3 Day Festival - Online & In-Person

Walk A Little Slower: A Collection of Poems and Other Words by Tanner Olson

Walk A Little Slower: A Collection of Poems and Other Words is a book of hope, honesty, and joy by Tanner Olson. This collection of more than 60 poems and writings will invite you to slow down, lean in, hold fast, and to keep going. In the midst of the uncertainty and unknown, the already and not yet, the hopes and fears, we can easily forget that life was meant to be enjoyed. Tanner Olson’s writing weaves together faith, questions, humor, and hope as he encourages you to walk a little slower

Despina Kalpakidou - 2023 Nat’l & Int’l Beat Poetry Festival

Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell

Pillow Thoughts is a collection of poetry and prose about heartbreak, love, and raw emotions. It is divided into sections to read when you feel you need them most.

Paula Panzarella - 2023 Nat’l & Int’l Beat Poetry Festival

The Odyssey by Homer

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other Homeric epic. The Odyssey is a fundamental work in the modern Western canon, being the oldest extant piece of Western literature, second to the Iliad. Scholars believe the Odyssey was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek coastal region of Anatolia.

Tom Skarzynski - 2023 Nat’ & Int’l Beat Poetry Festival