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

The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien Box Set: Three-Volume Box Set

The first-ever publication of the collected poems of J.R.R. Tolkien, spanning almost seven decades of the author’s life and presented in an elegant three-volume hardcover boxed set.

J.R.R. Tolkien aspired to be a poet in the first instance, and poetry was part of his creative life no less than his prose, his languages, and his art. Although Tolkien’s readers are aware that he wrote poetry, if only from verses in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, its extent is not well known, and its qualities are underappreciated. Within his larger works of fiction, poems help to establish character and place as well as further the story; as individual works, they delight with words and rhyme. They express his love of nature and the seasons, of landscape and music, and of words. They convey his humor and his sense of wonder.

The earliest work in this collection, written for his beloved, is dated to 1910, when Tolkien was eighteen. More poems would follow during his years at Oxford, some of them very elaborate and eccentric. Those he composed during the First World War, in which he served in France, tend to be concerned not with trenches and battle, but with life, loss, faith, and friendship, his longing for England and the wife he left behind. Beginning in 1914, elements of his legendarium, “The Silmarillion,” began to appear, and the “Matter of Middle-earth” would inspire much of Tolkien’s verse for the rest of his life.

The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien presents almost 200 works across three volumes, including more than 60 that have never before been seen. The poems are deftly woven together with commentary and notes by world-renowned Tolkien scholars Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond, placing them in the context of Tolkien’s life and literary accomplishments and creating a poetical biography that is a unique and revealing celebration of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Sheila Burke - Nat’l & Int’l Beat Poetry Festival

Dina Kudatsky - 2023 Nat’l & Int’l Beat Poetry Festival

Shelley Chernin - Nat’l & Int’l Beat Poetry Festival

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

 #1 New York Times bestseller milk and honey is a collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity.

The book is divided into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose. Deals with a different pain. Heals a different heartache. milk and honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look.

"At age 24, Rupi Kaur has been called the voice of her generation." (USA Today)

“Rupi Kaur has vision beyond her years … Her work is simply but powerfully expressed, and viscerally captures both universal human experience and the particular struggles of a young woman today." (Huffington Post)

Rupi’s poetry is simple, relatable, gorgeous, and grounded in the everyday experiences of young women. (Rachel Grate, Hello Giggles)

"A must-have poetry collection about healing and hope." (Bustle)

Rupi Kaur's first book, Milk and Honey is the poetry collection every woman needs on her nightstand or coffee table. Accompanied by her own sketches, the beautifully honest poems read like the everyday, collective experiences of today's modern woman. (Erin Spencer, Huffington Post)

“Discussing themes of love, loss, and healing, Milk and Honey finds a way to connect to every reader. “ (Business Insider)

"Milk and Honey brings any tormented reader to an enlightened state of self-reflection that may have taken years to accomplish alone.”

  (Elite Daily)

The honest words of Rupi Kaur leave you continuously wanting more as she writes with eloquence and poise. Her work will send you to past thoughts and realities you might not have known you had.

(Sienna Brown, WildSpice Magazine)

Rupi Kaur’s writing echoes of artistry and wisdom which is seen in the work of those that have been writing for years. (Samira Sawlani, Media Diversified)

About the Author

Rupi Kaur is a poet, artist, and performer. Her works have taken the literary world by storm. Her second book, the sun and her flowers—an instant global bestseller, is an artistic sibling to her debut, milk and honey—one of America's bestselling books of 2017.

“i am the product of all the ancestors getting together and deciding these stories need to be told.”

Rupi sees her work as an articulation of this vision. She’s an eternal artist. At the age of five, her mother handed her a paintbrush and said, “draw your heart out.” At seventeen, she happened upon a local open mic night where she performed her first spoken word poem. She fell in love with performance poetry that night. Rupi continued performing across Canada, while building a community of readers and poetry enthusiasts. While studying at the University of Waterloo, Rupi wrote, illustrated, and self-published her first collection, milk and honey. In the years since, milk and honey has become an international phenomenon. It’s sold over 3 million copies, been translated into more than 35 languages, and landed as a #1 New York Times bestseller—where it has spent more than 100 consecutive weeks. 

“i am the first woman in my lineage with freedom of choice. to craft her future whichever way i choose. say what is on my mind when i want to. without the whip of the lash. there are hundreds of firsts i am thankful for.”

Rupi explores a variety of themes in her work ranging from love, loss, trauma, healing, femininity, migration, and revolution. She’s a storyteller and chronicler—a repository of community and history. There’s a simplicity and nuance to her work that has found a home in the hearts of millions. This magic is captured in her stage performances, which are magnetic musical interactions of poetry, art, and theater. Rupi's long-awaited second collection, the sun and her flowers, was published in 2017 and debuted as a #1 global bestseller. Within the first three months it sold a million copies and was embraced by readers worldwide. She’s a Forbes 30 under 30, an editor of the 2016 Mays Literary Anthology of New Writing from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and one of BBC’s 100 Women. Rupi hopes to continue her artistic exploration through art and poetry—searching for ways to understand and articulate.

i stand

on the sacrifices

of a million women before me thinking

what can i do

to make this mountain taller so the women after me

can see farther 

- legacy