Poems Books

Breathe easy, these poems will flow like wine over your lips. Flint's last collection before his untimely death in 2001 is as fresh as his first. He writes with a breezy, plainsong style that begs to be spoken and heard. And as I had the privilege of having him as my poetry professor at Georgetown ca 1980, I hear the poems in my head as he would have read them. There is Flint's usual tongue in cheek joking, especially about sex, as in "Monkey House," "Never Again Would Birdsong," "When I Invented the Rose," and "Berkshire Massage Works." My favorite poem is "Easy," the title piece. As a reader of poetry for 25+ years, there aren't too many poems that move me to tears anymore. This is one. How could such a simple poem about domestic nothingness mean so much? It's not merely the subject matter but how Flint says it, the intonation, the word choices, the flow- so easy: He finishes with: "how easy it is, the times like this, when it's simple." Yes, so easy...

I have never been able to say this about any other book: I enjoyed EASY so much that I read it through twice in one sitting. Roland Flint is a writer of great heart who has suffused each of the thirty-seven poems in his new collection with quiet beauty. It is hard not to feel grateful after reading these poems, and most people will most likely also be more aware of the pleasures they take in daily life, the ones they might not readily recognize. In one of the poems in the book's third section, "Strawberries Like Raspberries," Flint describes the delight of eating a perfect pear in such clear detail that I immediately thought of a pear I had recently eaten and wished for another. Flint's language is always lucid, his lines and stanzas crisp like fall leaves, and there is sometimes an autumnal melancholy to his poems, e.g. "After the Spanish Mass with Nena," "Pamela," "Grief November," "Prayer." Others, however, are more celebratory: "Never Again Would Birdsong" and "HaHa" examine the link between laughter and sex, revealing that the two are often closely related. Still others amuse with anecdotes or mild wordplay: "Henry & June the Movie" and "Land of Cotton." This is a collection in which readers will rediscover joy. Praised be Roland Flint! Praised be!

I have never been able to say this about any other book: I enjoyed EASY so much that I read it through twice in one sitting. Roland Flint is a writer of great heart who has infused each of the thirty-seven poems in his new collection with quiet beauty. It is hard not to feel grateful after reading these poems, and most people will also be more aware of the pleasures they take in daily life, the ones they might not readily recognize. In one of the poems in the book's third section, "Strawberries Like Raspberries," Flint describes the delight of eating a perfect pear in such clear detail that I immediately thought of a pear I had recently eaten and wished for another. Flint's language is always lucid, his lines and stanzas crisp like fall leaves, and there is sometimes an autumnal melancholy to his poems, e.g. "After the Spanish Mass with Nena," "Pamela," "Grief November," Again Would Birdsong" and "HaHa" examine the link between laughter and sex, postulating that the two are often closely related. And Movie" and "Land of Cotton." This is a collection in which readers will rediscover joy. Praised be Roland Flint! Praised be

EASY is acclaimed poet Roland Flint's 7th book, and in a career marked by the rare marriage of multiplicity of style with knuckle-busting consistency of vision, this may be his most compelling collection to date. A native of North Dakota, Flint's plainspoken, masterful eloquence informs line after line, carefully measuring the liveliest, smartest, most sensual poetry of our day. He is more than partial to a laugh (see "Monkey House," "Land of Cotton," "Ah, Venus," "HaHa") -- he's stubbornly bent on laughter. His work possesses the cleverness of Roethke, the lyric, ingrained sensitivity to rhythm and occasional rhyme of Wright, the psychodynamic jazz of Matthews, the hard irony of Berryman. And that's merely the beginning. What stands out in poem after poem is the compassionately rendered, unsparing clarity of emotion -- whether of hilarity or piercing loss or both at once -- that without the poem had gone unnoticed, unrescued, unpraised, unredeemed. Take his characteristically precise and moving "Strawberries Like Raspberries," in which the poet recalls a trip to Bulgaria, where he tasted "the genius/ or luck of Bulgarian horticulture," especially in the country's strawberries -- "small, a delicately sweet dark red." He's learned just enough Bulgarian, from a communist text, to misconstrue -- for the varietal name of the fruit itself -- a local friend's comparing these strawberries with raspberries. Later, back in the states, the poet reads of the transition (or translation) from communism to capitalism, of the saddening kinks in the new food distribution chain, regretting all that wasted genius, and concludes: "... for a while, at least,/ the harvest will be only of fruit -- / bitterer than sour cherries --/ of what had been more deeply sown." EASY is replete with such poetry of harvest: in "Little Men Who Come Blindly," fathers reap what they've sown in their children; in "Seasonal, 1991," early spring in Bagdhad, following the Gulf War, brings from military triumph the mortal grief in "a season of heat and winds/ of cholera and typhus;" in "Pamela," adolescent love bears the fruit of enduring loyalty. These are poems ripe with their moments, coming off the page easily, of their own weight. Flint's earthy versatility calls to mind a maple on the plains in October, whose lower limbs still are green, whose middle branches are yellow, and whose upper leaves are orange-red: a single figure for loss, austerity, and an abundance of bright-hard laughter. EASY is a collection you will respect, and thoroughly enjoy in each of its many facets. Roland Flint will make you smarter at heart.

I dedicated one of the poems in my recently published book of poems to Emily Bronte, and did so after falling in love with her own poetry. What divine spark burned within her bosom? What muses inspired her? Although we may never know, we can see their impact. Her poems are stunning, powerful, curious, entrancing.

Have you ever been at wits' end? Perhaps you believe in God but are shaking your fist at the sky and asking 'What are You thinking? How could you do this to me?' Then add for a bit more drama rejection, rejection and more rejection from those who don't understand one's unique artistic point of view. Last, add a dash of difficulty - yourself - you're not easy to deal with and bottomline the conventional is not your style. Then, you'll adore this book of poems by Emily Bronte. Most known for "Wuthering Heights" (which when repeatedly rejected by publishers - she would pack it up in the same wrapping and send it on again); some do not know what a great poet she was. Every facet of the human condition is explored in this little book - so readable, accessible, poignant and brilliant. For me, I never tire of reading it. And it's lovely to know that...she is still here.

This book is spellbinding and captivating. I couldn't put it down once I started it.

I dedicated one of the poems in my recently published book of poems to Emily Bronte, and did so after falling in love with her own poetry. What divine spark burned within her bosom? What muses inspired her? Although we may never know, we can see their impact. Her poems are stunning, powerful, curious, entancing.

Michael Sowder's "The Empty Boat" carries the reader on a journey of loss, recovery, and grace. Sowder's poems record stages in an ongoing spiritual quest under the sign of the crow, Sowder's totem animal. Rooted in the natural world he knows so well, Sowder's vivid images continually take flight: " I float into sleep / at ten thousand feet, / the night giving wings to our bones," he tells the lover he has courted throughout the book, even while acknowledging the contrary urge toward solitary communion with nature. In fact, Sowder's delicate love poems leaven the terror and mystery the poet finds in nature--as when the "glittering bodies" of frozen fish turn a lake into "a jeweled cemetery, / an illuminated manuscript / we were tongueless and terrified to read" ("Luddington Beach, Lake Michigan"). Embracing sly humor, Whitmanian exuberance, and Taoist spirituality by turns, the poems in "The Empty Boat" continually delight the imagination.

Michael Sowder's new book of poetry, "The Empty Boat", is simply riveting. I picked it up intending to read a few pages and save the rest for another time, but I couldn't put it down until I had finished it. It is exciting reading! Well done, Michael. Well done.

This is easily the best new book of poetry in years. Michael Sowder guides the reader through the intricacies of the natural world and the inner life. His vivid language and haunting imagery recall James Wright and Li-Young Lee, with the narrative power of David Bottoms. This is a voice to cherish. Buy this book now. You will find the boat far from empty. Let Sowder carry you downriver with the most expert of J-strokes.

I heard about this collection of poems from a colleague. He told me that Michael Sowder is one of the finest new poets to come out of the American romantic tradition. To be honest, I've read very little poetry of late that has moved me, so I was thirsty for something to catch my attention. I purchased "The Empty Boat" and begin reading...and reading. For the first time since I was a teenager, I have found a poet that speaks to that longing for simplicity, adventure and purity which saturate our adolesence but mysteriously dry up as we age and wear in our shoes. Sowder teaches us once again how to see the world through an innocent eye. He leads us, guides us. Indeed, he is a sort of Counselor directing us ever onward, ever forward. Bravo to Michael Sowder, the "Counselor".

I have a stack of contemporary poetry books by my bed, many of them partially read, book-marked at a favorite poem. Campbell's book, Enter, is the only one I read from cover to cover in two evenings. Then I went back and marked my favorites. Then I read a few again. His poetry is addictive like popcorn. More than that: it is like sitting down with a bucket of popcorn to watch a movie on video with your family. His poetry ranges in emotion from clever to poignant, yet there is a thread running throughout of unvarnished joy in everyday existence. Campbell's book is a work by that most rare of creatures: a poet in command of language and wit who is actually contented with his life. Get the book, pop some popcorn, and enjoy...

Mr. Campbell aka (the Poet Guru of the San Gabriel Valley)
gives us a look at not only a personal part of his day to day existence, but the mind of a Father, Teacher, Husband, Son and Grandson as he deals with everything from sex to fast food to fear and death, part intellectual, part observer, he sees all obstacles and describes them to us before losing his lunch.
Well worth owning to read again and again!

I was lucky enough to stumble across Don "Kingerfisher" Campbell's fine book at a garage sale. I almost did not make this purchase because the seller wanted to sell it for $.15 (fifteen cents) and I only was willing to spend .10 n(ten cents). After haggling for 45 minutes we finally agreed on a price of $.12 (twelve cents). I felt sort of bad at first for spending so much, but after reading this book I felt good about my purchase and like I had gotten my money's worth. Don Campbell's poetry has inspired me to be all I can be and to see the humour and poetry in each and every day. I have also started writing poetry under the inspiration of Don Campbell. Don "kingfisher" Campbell is truly a gifted writer. I do believe that he is second only to ee cummings. I have laughed and cried reading Don Campbell's fine book of poetry.

you'll love this collection of poetry by the kingfisher.
it digs deep into the depths of human depravity.
i couldn't get enough of it myself.
i found it up here in toronto in a reduced book bargain bin and i'm satisfied to say it was worth the 99 cents i paid for it.
it'll make you think and make you think you stink, but don't worry cuz you will definetly need a shower after putting it down.
tight words mr. campbell! all hail!

"Eugene Onegin" was the first major work written in Russian, helping to establish that language's illustrious literary tradition. This novel in verse brought to fame Aleksandr Pushkin, who later turned his talents from poetry on to prose fiction with such titles as "The Captain's Daughter", "The Queen of Spades", and "Dubrovskii".

Briefly, the story concerns the encounter between two landed gentry, Eugene, who is disillusioned by his former experiences of St. Petersburg, and Tatyana, a provincial girl who sees the world through her English romance poetry. Obviously, the meeting is an ugly one. The ending is left for the reader to discover, but we all get to see how pitiful Onegin really is.

This edition includes the unfinished poem, "Onegin's Journey", and the classic "The Bronze Horseman", which is famous for describing the unstoppable and cruel will of Peter the Great in modernizing Russia.

The only problem that I had was in the English translation of "Eugene Onegin". Translating a poem from one lanaguage to another, while still maintaining proper meter and rhyme is no mean feat. Nevertheless, something is lost in the delivery of the poem and unfortunately, we can appreciate only part of Pushkin's genius by reading the English translation. I'd like to learn Russian well enough to be able to read Pushkin's poetry in order to appreciate his work more fully. Well I'm working on it!

This is a brief story-poem--a Russian classic. Many would argue this is the most important work of Russian literature. The characters are interesting and well-drawn. The most compelling character--Tatiyana--introduced a new character type to Russian literature. A very worthwhile read, particularly for those interested in the evolution of literature. Also, this particular edition is beautiful.

It is written by one of the famous russian writers of the 19 century. I love reading his poems and novelizatiosn to no end.

once you get in this book you get lost in depth of their characters like yevgeni onegin and tanya.I have really developed a great admiration for the write a.s.pushkin of how he played with the characters in some way ý beleive that y.onegin was himself and tanya was his one of those gales that writer flirted with them in a sensual way.

ý am pretty sure the writer had a deep sensual feeling for tanya and was trying to put her in a role at his wife's position where she was never ever had a sexual object in his real lifetime marriage with her.

ý have seen the theatrical play of this book and enjoyed very much so as ý had the pleasure of reading it.

Though not written in Alexander Pushkin's native Russian, this edition of his immortal classic "Eugene Onegin" is as near to perfection as it could possibly be. This particular translation is eloquent and full of the lighthearted humor and poetry that I believe to be an integral part of Pushkin himself. Yet the novel in poetry is also able to evoke a melancholy sadness, and it leaves the reader with feelings that aren't easily shaken.

I picked this book up by chance; I happened upon it in the library. So I took it home with a stack of other volumes of poetry. Of those five or six books, this is the only one I remember. Reading these poems is like having someone sitting in front of you weaving a story. Every sight, every sound, every movement comes alive and performs before you. And while some poets allow the beauty of their language distance you from the poem itself, Stafford relies on simple, clear, true language, such that the reader can identify similar situations and emotions in her or his own life. Even in Quiet Places is a marvelous work, simple enough for someone just delving into poetry, and with messages deep and introspective enough for a discerning reader to envelope themselves in. It's fabulous!

I read this book with eyes half-shut, a bedtime story. The poems sang me a lullaby. The book itself is a collection of four chapbooks, edited and assembled by William Stafford's son Kim. My favorite of these was last, "The Methow River Poems" created by Stafford for the Forest Service, to be etched on road signs in Washington State.

Human emotion and story is given to landscape in these poems, and that is my favorite type of poem. Sort of an anthropomorphic way of life--a narcissistic, humanistic way of being which strangely exists outside of self and enters into everything around all of us: people, deer, waves, mountains, trees, rocks, rivers, stars. These poems carve a door, draw the non-human inside the human, and by doing so, draws us humans into the non-human realm, towards something greater, something worthy of worship, to a very, very still and quiet sanctuary.

This wonderful collection of poems is now over ten years old. The first posthumously published Stafford volume, it is full of the breathtaking and insightful poems for which this remarkable poet is known. Stafford's relaxed, friendly voice belies the depth and complexity of his poetry.

Bill Stafford (1914-1993) was a greatly loved and admired writer and teacher, authored 67 volumes and was the winner of the 1963 National Book Award, the Shelley Award from the Poetry Society of America and served as Poetry Consultant for the Library of Congress (1970-71). He was appointed Oregon Poet Laureate in 1975.

Stafford's poetry is truly a part of the American landscape. Seven of the poems from this volume are "published" on roadside plaques along the river that runs from the heart of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State to meet the Columbia River. The Methow River Poems, among his most visionary and beautiful creations, are a series of 19 poems written shortly before his death. Stafford answered a request by two U.S. Forest Service rangers, Curtis Edwards and Sheela McLean, who wrote him in 1992 asking him to provide the words for some of the 'interpretive' signs that appear throughout our national and state park lands. Stafford enthusiastically agreed. These poems were originally published by Confluence Press in 1995 as The Methow River Poems.

To my mind, the poem that best expresses Stafford's vision is "On Being a Person." I myself have read this poem over and over and have recited it to large audiences at commemorative readings of Stafford's poetry. You can hear a pin drop in the audience when this poem is being recited--so riveting, deep and sweeping is its vision. How we stand makes a difference. How we breathe makes a difference.

According to Kim Stafford "The poems my father contributed to the Methow project form a distinctive conclusion to this new book (Even in Quiet Places), and, if it is not too grand to say so, an unusual enrichment to the literary history of the American landscape . . . I believe the Methow poems display in the extreme a habit of mind that ... characterizes ... my father's life work." Work that reflected his "customary prolific generosity," somewhat random, with "nuggets of insight" that were universal despite an easy-going, particular, relaxed style.

There is a video of William Stafford discussing his commission by the Forest Service to write poems for road signs along the Methow River in Washington State. In the video Garrison Keillor reads six of the poems, Naomi Shihab Nye reads "A Valley Like This," and Stafford himself reads "Emily, This Place and You."

These are visions worth treasuring and sharing. Even in quiet places.

Accessable, powerful poems. These book covers topics from nature to war to using your feet to walk out of a sleasy show. My favorite single poem was the one entitled Watching Sandhill Cranes. This book is a collection of four volumes of poetry. My favorite section was the last, The Methow River Poems. These were written for the U.S. Forest Service and displayed along a wilderness road. I loved the idea of hikers coming upon a poem which grabs their attention for a moment and then re-focuses it again in a new light on the beauty around them.

The Listening Tree
by Joyce Ann Edmondson

The Listening Tree is a delightful glimpse into a woman's life as she discovers her faith in God. From childhood, she unknowingly takes the hand of God and is led spiritually on her life's path. As a girl she searches until as a young woman she finds her place in God's plan-not as a Nun, as she wants, but as a wife, mother and grandmother devoted to her family, and a woman who shares God's love with others.

I find the Listening Tree to have a calming effect upon the reader. Reliving the memories of this author's lifetime and how each cherished memory brings her to be the loving woman God always knew she would be, instills in the heart of each reader that God is there waiting to take their hand, and as the listening tree, God will hear those who pray.

Nancy Lee Shrader
IS IT NOW? The End of Days!

Joyce Ann wrote the first poem for Falling Petals fifty years ago. Several more were written while her children were growing up, and most of her poems were written after her husband's death in 1994. The poem she wrote following her husband's death is one of the most touching I have ever read. After being a widow for eight years, Joyce Ann married her high school sweetheart she had not seen in several decades. She expresses her love for her husband, John, in words of both romance and friendship.

Joyce Ann uses a variety of styles and rhyming patterns in her poems. A few remind the reader of Emily Dickinson's expertise and style. Her poetry expresses thoughts about life, God, nature and family. One time I heard the expression, "I didn't have time to write a poem, so I wrote a book." That is my feeling as I read Falling Petals. The poems are written with an artistic and musical essence reflective of living life over time and growing from the changes that transformed the author over a period of years.

Joyce Ann shows her belief that God lives within each of us, and expresses this belief in various ways throughout the book. Her poetry invokes thought, warm feelings of love, and spirituality with vivid pictures one does not soon forget. She puts words together unexpectedly and beautifully as in the following:

Waking from silence
We shall be
Kings and queens,
Wear golden shoes
And dance til dawn
In the Kingdom of God.

You will want to keep this book close by and read the poems over again while feeling the presence of Joyce Ann as a friend by your side.

Falling Petals is a beautiful spiritual filled collection of poems written from the deepest memories and feelings of the author. Joyce Ann's poems are so refreshing and inspirational, a coffee table book, to read whenever the heart feels gloomy and needs a spiritual boost.

Falling Petals has a poem for everyone to delight and savor in while bringing hearts closer to the Lord. The finest feature about Joyce Ann's poem collection is they are uplifting and encouraging, often giving us faith, hope, and encouragement where otherwise none existed.

I recommend Falling Petals for all hearts young and old from all walks of life, it is a book you will treasure.

Angie Lewis
Author, Journey on the Roads Less Traveled

Falling Petals, a collection of poetry by Joyce Ann Edmondson is a unique blend of religious and spiritual works that captures the joy and love in the heart of the author. Joyce's beautiful, poetic voice speaks volumes in this collection that embraces family, Christ, love, nature, and the reverence of each soul on earth.

I had reservations before reading this book, thinking I may not relate to a religious themed group of poems, but shortly after turning the first page, my reservations disappeared, and were replaced by a warmth and glow of words shining from each stanza. The poems are timeless, and as I read each one, discovered a spirituality that embraced my heart that I had thought long departed through years of a coarsened existence.

I have too many favorites to list them all, but there are a few well deserving of special praise.

'Reconciliation' is a wonderful tale of love, longing, and finally, reconciliation. It has an amazingly simplistic character that speaks volumes with care and thoughtfulness.

Between us lay a veil of glass,
Curtains and a screen besides,
No fear, no pain nor thirst,
No longing he denied.

'To Be With You' is beautifully written with intricate word painting that captivates the mind and imagination -

I want to be with you
At the close of the day
When the sun reflects
Its pink and lavender hues
In the western sky,
Spreads a golden quilt over the earth
And says goodnight to the hills.

In 'Diana', Joyce superbly pays tribute to the wonders of a giving soul taken too soon.

...Among the sea of common faces,
Yours alone separated the roaring sea
Which called to you and yet grew silent
At your final passing

...Your soul was fashioned
From the elements of a common
Cloth, your destiny as one of us...

I highly recommend Falling Petals, but not just for the religious, and spiritual among us, but also for those who long to feel a soothing comfort wash over them from the beautifully written poetry and prose of Joyce Ann Edmondson.


Reviewed by Kathy Nesselroad, author of 67 Pieces of My Heart, and Renderings, Words on Canvas. [...].

I did not grow up in New York; I grew up in Iowa. I am not Jewish; I was raised in a Baptist church. In spite of these cultural dissimilarities, I found so much to relate to in this book. Perhaps the position of fathers in families is more universal than one might think. All I know is that, when reading these poems, frequently I could hear my own father speaking, and that made me smile.

Award-winning poet Hal Sirowitz presents Father Said, an anthology of his one-page free-verse poems, written in an almost conversational style, that distill the connection between father and son into bits of wisdom, large and small, that strengthen a lifelong bond. A compelling and eminently readable compendium of ageless wisdom, wry insight, and catch-one's-eye phrases make Father Said a superb giftbook even for individuals who may be unaccustomed to reading poetry - the words speak with a plain-terms, everyman spirit that one does not need years of literary education to wholeheartedly appreciate. Highly recommended. Mother of Invention: They say necessity is the mother / of invention, Father said, but you / don't feel the necessity of inventing / an excuse for why you don't visit us anymore. / Your sister, who has given less than you, doesn't / visit us much either but at least she invents a new excuse / every week that she's unable to come.

and not edgewise. With the same neurotic quirkiness of the poems in his first volume, these poems delight with the difference manifested in the father-son relationship. Despite the brevity, Sirowitz manages to capture those funny, annoying, sad moments in tiny memories of intimate verbal exchanges. It is as if we had a chair, listening in the next room.

Hal Sirowitz, the former Poet Laureate of Queens (who now lives in another boro), offers us this funny look at his father's sayings and life philosophy. It is a follow up to "Mother Said" and "My Therapist Said." Just as Sedaris is better read with a Carolina accent, these are better read with a dry, montone, slightly whiny Queens accent.

In one poem:
When your mother tells me don't I think /
it's time we got a better washing machine, /
Father said, I tell her, Let it decide. /
If it breaks down, we'll get a better one.

Or his father compares the young Hal to ants
("I've never seen them being idle. I /
wish I could say the same thing about you"),

He writes, "The only/ good thing about dying is that I / won't be around if something goes wrong./ You'll have to take care of it."

In "Saluting The Bull", Hal's father feels for the bull in a bullfight, one that did not deserve an early death after having a stranger wave its least favorite color in front of its face, trying to make it look silly. In "The Lost Friend", his father recounts a game of hide and seek, in which he never found his friend. He hopes one day, now decades later, that he will find him.

Nearly all are gems to be savored.

I have not yet had the opportunity to read Mr. Harrison's first book (The Singing Underneath), but I hope to at some point in the near future. As for Feeding the Fire, like his second book (Signs of Arrival) it is fine collection of poems drawing from poignant memories and touching observations with exquisitely placed dashes of wit. Harrison has the keen ability to synthesize experiences and feelings into a coherent fabric of verse that is easily read. The book was also beautifully produced (particularly the hardback) by Sarabande Books.

I have not yet had the opportunity to read Mr. Harrison's first book (The Singing Underneath), but I hope to at some point in the near future. As for Feeding the Fire, like his second book (Signs of Arrival) it is a fine collection of poems drawn from poignant memories and touching observations with exquisitely placed dashes of wit. Harrison has the keen ability to synthesize experiences and feelings into a coherent fabric of verse that is easily read. The book was also beautifully produced (particularly the hardback) by Sarabande Books.

I have not yet had the opportunity to read Mr. Harrison's first book (The Singing Underneath), but I hope to at some point in the near future. As for Feeding the Fire, like his second book (Signs of Arrival) it is a fine collection of poems drawn from poignant memories and touching observations with exquisitely placed dashes of wit. Harrison has the keen ability to synthesize experiences and feelings into a coherent fabric of verse that is easily read. The book was also beautifully produced (particularly the hardback) by Sarabande Books.

The poems in "Feeding the Fire," by Jeffrey Harrison, are written in a clear, straightforward language. There are a number of story poems told by a first-person voice; there are also a number of elegies and also poems on poetry itself. Some of the most memorable selections in the book are as follows:

"Our Other Sister": a story poem in which a boy's creation of an imaginary sister impacts his real sister. "My Double Nonconversion": an ironic poem about a college freshman's encounters with evangelists from two very different religions. "Salt": about a Gentile man's experience of the Jewish world. "Vietnam Scrapbook": about a 4th grade teacher in 1968 who is teaching her students about the war in Vietnam. "White Spaces": a meditation on poetry and loss, told in 2 voices. "Note Written on Birch Bark": a nature poem that hints at the possibility of liberation from language. "A Garbage Can Full of Books in Brooklyn": a poem that questions how you "read the bibliography of someone's inner life." And finally "Interval," in which fireflies are described as "a sublunar starscape whose shifting constellations / were a small gift of unexpected astonishment."

Harrison is a gifted poet-storyteller, and this volume contains some really striking and thoughtful passages.

Tim continues to produce wonderful children's literature. This book of poetry reminded me of the style of Shel Silvertein. Tim's artwork is as valuable as his words - as usual. I recommend not only this book - but all Tim's books. They have humor in words and detailed art that will entertain and entertain while fueling the imagination!

I just saw an advance copy of this great poetry book for kids! In the tradition of A.A. Milne, but energetic and fun-packed for today's generation.

Every child has some word or phrase that becomes *his* for a short time. For my little guy at fifteen months old, it's "Steamrollers!"

Delightful art, wonderful execution, and a dollop of Seussian scansion ("seventh-eighths riot and one-quarter zoo" could have come from the Doctor). Only brevity keeps this from being a five-star selection -- boy & I both wanted MORE.

Bravo Tim for a great piece of work.

This is one of the funniest childrens books I have read. My daughter loves having me read it to her, and I enjoy it just as much. I highly recommend it!