Poetry Books

A Child's Christmas In Wales CD: And Five Poems
Hurrah! Now I won't have to wait for the radio to play Dylan Thomas reading his wonderful Child's Christmas every Christmas. Truly a beautiful recording of the other poems as well.

My goodness, these illustrations are ugly. They completely detract from the beauty of the language. Either read it out loud to a blind person or stick with the version illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.

This reading of A Child's Christmas in Wales is tops! It wouldn't be Christmas for us without hearing Dylan Thomas tell his story. He recounts a holiday of simple, family and neighborhood doings, and paints a picture of snowy, seaside Wales of the 1920's.

I love this story, as do all my children, who, from their earliest years, have not much struggled with the density of the language nor the scatteredness of the story. 5 of my 8 great-grandparents are from Wales, and the remaining 3 have the blood in them as well, so maybe it is like drinking water for us.:-D Our minds are all scattered, and words, even English words ;-D, fall on us in clumps....which makes it doubly hard to keep a clean house. LOL

The sort of prose-poetry imaginative way of seeing and describing the world unique to Welshwomen and Welshmen and Welshchildren, which does not seek to keep up the pretense that history can be separated from myth, story and desire, and which requires loving with eyes wide open to [and eventually embracing] one's own and others' bumps, bruises and idiosyncracies included, is extraordinarily well represented here. So, by the way, is speaking and listening to the close and Holy darkness!

My favorite version isthe one illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. To me she has captured the complexity of the Welsh personality best, though i have nothing to say against the other illustrators praised in these reviews. I DO have a warning for you: there are some skinny versions flying about which do not have the poem-story complete and correct. This sort of work cannot suffer removal or modification, IMHO.

gbg

If you have read A Child's Christmas in Wales, you know that it has to be a classic. But you can't fully appreciate it until you have heard Dylan Thomas read it. What a deep, expressive, poetic voice. For years, I have listened to the recording on a Caedman record. It is wonderful to have it on a CD.

The book is worth purchasing for the biographical background. His youth and adulthood were extremely tough and lonely. Hughes seems to have lost his religion early in life.

Excellent book and historical treasure that I intend to pass down to my grandchildren in the future.

I prefer his earlier stuff but there are poems in this book that make the entire thing worth it. Nude Young Dancer, Minstrel Song and countless others made me want to weep and smile. What can I say, I felt this guys pain...

If you haven't heard of Langston Hughes, I suggest that you purchase this, THE COLLECTED POEMS OF LANGSTON HUGHES, as an introduction to his style. Hughes was part of the definitive Harlem Renaissance Movement of the 1920s through the late 1940s, that was a very important period of time for African-Americans in the United States. For the first time, their voices were really being heard [and recognized] in the genres of music, writing, and sculpture, in this country.

This book is an amazing collection of five decades of his most powerful, intelligent and sensitive works. The poems start in 1921 through 1967. There are also several poems, written for children, that I didn't even realize Langston had penned! So beautiful and unexpected. What's more, one of his most well-known poems is featured, here, "What Happens to a Dream Deferred." Langston Hughes' views of race, society and social issues are truly timeless and compelling. For me, reading his works is like listening to a quiet, constant patter of rain on the rooftop, gradually growing with intensity, until the raindrops start flowing like teardrops from the great sky. That is how Hughes uses language. Essentially, he derives his beautiful rhythmic poetic language from an infinite river of words, he then pours them over on another and tells stories. This is truly the book to add to your poetry collection.

More than the exiled Eliott, greater than Walt Whitman, consistently clearer than Ginsberg, more powerful than Pound, freer than Frost, more American than Wallace Stevens, moreso even than the mighty Merton, here at long last is our greatest American poet receiving over-due respect.

A thick tome I purchased for my English learners which will instead fill my bed and my head for many cold and lonesome months ahead. Like the collected Poe, the collected Giovanni, an essential element to any American literature shelf, here for the first time meticulously researched and reported, with promise for more should any further works emerge. This is our American voice, clear and strong. This is the consummate volume of this great American poet, the one who wrote:

"( . . .) I've known rivers, ancient dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers."


May we once more grow deep with him, and by him. Read him, once more, here, complete and correct. Read him, and recall our America. Read him.

I checked this book out of the library and it came with a cassette so that is my one disappointment that this was only the book. My 5 year old son loves this and we had to listen to and read it for several weeks in a row. Halloween is his favorite holiday and to put humor into the ghouls was quite fun for him.

Very clever book of poems. My two daughters (6 and 9) giggled at the funny vocabulary. The illustrations are are cool and inventive. Every movie monster must be in there somewhere. We liked the son of Dracula drawn as Charlie Brown. Adults will like this one too.

Frankenstein Makes A Sandwich is a funny, upbeat, down-to-earth wonderful book about monsters, food, and day to day issues like hunger, hygiene, being respectful to others (the Open Letter to Wolfman from his dog is HILARIOUS!!), and everyday stuff like fear of the dentist. The poetry is easy and unforced, funny and a wonderful experience. I hope Rex Adams writes and illustrates more and more and more. I'll be waiting!! 5 stars!!

I love this book. For the past two years, I've read it aloud to my elementary school library classes prior to Halloween. They beg for it. The poetry is so well syncopated, and the rhyming is near perfect. The humor is mature, so I have to explain many of the poems, but a lot of it the kids understand without explanation. They can really identify with the torment of having a song stuck in your mind that keeps going on and on, as happens to the poor Phantom of the Opera when he gets "It's a Small World After All" stuck in his head. And they understand why offering a toothpick to Count Dracula to pick his teeth makes him nervous because it resembles a sharp stake. I love this book so much that I bought it this year for my 54-year old brother for his birthday. Unlike the song "It's a Small World After All," the sophistication of these poems will keep them fresh for many, many, many Halloweens to come. If you're a poetry buff who appreciates a humorous twist on the classic scary characters, do NOT pass this book by.

Nice prose, but the illustrations, other than Frankenstein's, are rather frightening for young children. I bought this book for my grandchildren, ages 4 and 6, after having only seen the Frankenstein illustration and was disappointed when I opened the book to see the other very dark and frightening pictures throughout the book. I don't recommend this book for children under the age of 8.

This is a classic Dr. Suess book from my childhood. I have read it over and over again to my kids, and now I am reading it to my grandchildren. This book ranks right up there with The Cat in the Hat for entertainment value, for some reason it was a Dr. Suess book that wasn't as well known. Thank goodness my grandmother was a librarian and sent it to me for my 5th birthday. Your kids will LOVE this book, and adults actually enjoy reading it, too!

I thought I knew all the Dr. Seuss books, but this one came to my attention recently and I had never heard of it before. I bought it immediately in order to read it to my youngest daughter before she outgrows children's books. She loved the story and I had one more wonderful message to give her from Dr. Seuss, "Keep thinking of all the wonderful things that are possible!"

This is my favorite Seuss book (yes, I say that about all of them). Year after year I buy this for my friends' kids, but I think it's a great book for an adult library, too.

All you have to say is Dr Seuss. All of his books are excellent!

I have enjoyed this story since I was a child & am now 66 years old. I believe this is one of Dr. Seuss's first books published. Just had to replace my old copy after hurricane Katrina.

If you can get past an idiotic short introduction by Bill Murray, you'll enjoy a wonderful experience. Billy Collins has created true poetry that will make you think and laugh.

I heard Billy Collins speak in Wellington early one chilly Sunday morning. He commented that he was amazed anyone would want to get out of bed and listen to him on such a cold day ...he wouldn't! Of course we all thought it worth the effort, nothing beats hearing a really superb poet reading his own work superbly.I heartily recommend this cd, it's always in the most played pile near my cd player and on my ipod,so that I can listen to him any time.
A great selection of his work and interesting pre-ambles before each poem.

As always, Billy Collins is above and beyond in his poetry readings. Great humor, great heart and an accessibility rarely found in intellectual circles! You will fall in love with him and with poetry all over again.

This is a figure of speech of course - once upon a time... never mind, but you'd burn your dinner or if it's cooked, then the food on your fork will miss you mouth, if you try to cook or eat as you listen to Billy Collins read. It's a treat.

My high school students fell in love with Collins. Even the chronically apathetic perked up during his reading... use this in your classroom, and follow it up with selections from Poetry 180. You'll be glad you did.

This a great collection of poems from the past! If you enjoy whimsy, this is for you!

with eliot, a maximum of content is achieved through a FORM worked with a
care and conciousness not seen perhaps since the greeks. he understood,
as he once wrote, that the novel form ended with flaubert. in the centuries after picasso and stravinsky there is no place for anything in
literature which makes people remain sitting, whithout standing and perhaps dancing. the same thing could be said about pound, very different though very twin.

The Eliot of despair, the Eliot of 'Prufrock' and 'Wasteland' is contended with and overcome by the Eliot of the 'Quartets'. The message of modern mankind's meaninglessness, the broken fragments ( of Tradition) shored against his ruin is replaced by the vision of sacred turning, a Christian vision of redemption. Eliot is a writer whose work and life break down into these two distinct periods each of which has its champions in defining what is best in him.
As one raised on 'April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land' and 'Let us go then you and I when the evening is spread out against the sky, like a patient etherized upon a table' the most memorable lines are certainly of the first phase where it ends not with a bang but with a whimper.
Yet my admiration for the hypnotic power of Eliot's memorable lines is strongly qualified by my knowledge of his 'Burbank with a Baedaker, and Bluestein with a Cigar' with his all too fashionable literary anti- Semitism. Of course Eliot was not preaching death camps and extermination but he did connect his work to the tradition of Christian Anti- Semitism.
Thus I have always had difficulty being comfortable with my 'enjoying of Eliot's poetry. And I have never been able to sympathetically read 'The Quartets.' They have always seemed to me to be too impersonal characterless and abstract.
Eliot who for most of the century strode the English Departments as if he were a colossus did noble work in reviving interest in 'The Metaphysicals' but somehow failed in my mind to write a poetry humanly rich in the deepest sense.

When you think of the best poets ever, T.S. Eliot is one of those that comes to mind. His work is well crafted, intelligent, beautifully written, and has a flow to it that few poets can match. And this is a fine collection for the Eliot lover or for the reader unfamiliar with Eliot. It's divided into several sections. The first section is his Prufrock section, poems from 1917, which contains probably his finest poems: "Prufrock", "Preludes" "Rhapsody on a Windy Night", "Hysteria", among others. Then there is the Poems 1920 section which also contains many fine poems ("Sweeney Erect" and "The Hippopotamus" being my favorites). Then follows his masterpiece The Wasteland. Then The Hollow Men which is followed by the wonderful Ash Wednesday. Then the Ariel Poems (which contains "Journey of the Magi"). Then there are two unfinished poems, "Sweeney Agonistes" and "Coriolan" which I thought were weak. Maybe they would have been great had he ever finished them. Then there is a section called minor poems followed by the mediocre "Choruses from 'The Rock.' And then there is what I consider to be his true masterpiece, "Four Quartets." And the book finishes with some occasional verses, one of which is a sweet and touching poem to his wife. This is a great collection of poems.

Yep, this is a great collection of Eliot's works. I initially found out about Eliot throught the Movie 'Apocalypse Now' in which Brando is heard reciting the poem 'The Hollow Men'. The poem sounded so good I hunted it down and came across this little book.

My favourite poems would have to be 'The Hollow Men', 'Love song of Prufrock', 'Ash Wednesday' and 'Rannoch, by Glencoe (perfectly captured, drive through Rannoch and you'll see ;-)

Yep, definetly worth a read.

"A Cup of Christmas Tea" is a classic! It is the tender story (told in rhyme by Tom Hegg) of a young man who dreaded visiting a loved aunt after she suffered a stroke and became disabled. But he did visit her and the story is rich with emotion - and reality. A VERY special story that will touch your heart.

As I sat at my computer, I glanced over at my bookcase and reached for a book. It was a Cup Of Christmas Tea. I began reading out loud and soon started crying. Several times I had to stop and wipe away tears. It takes you back to when holidays were simple and pure and about the people you love.
As I finished the book and wiped away my final tears, I decided that I will make our Chanukah celebration something special for my grandsons.

Symbolized by sharing a cup of tea with an elderly aunt and reminiscing about Christmases past - this is a heart warming poem reminding us to slow down during the holidays and enjoy our time with family and friends.

A friend recommended this book to me several years ago, and when I read it, I was moved to tears. Since that time, I have given countless copies to friends and family because I want to share the message that I received from it with everyone I know. The text is brief, but very descriptive, so I could picture in my mind the events that the authors were describing. The message that I received is that monetary gifts are not as important as the gift of time that we spend with others; so often we set out to do things for others because we feel obligated, and in the end are more blessed than the person who was the object of our attention. This is truly a wonderful Christmas story to read again and again!

I think of this book as an adult "christmas book". I have had a copy for some years and purchased this one to accompany a Spode Christmas "tea pot and cup for one" I gave to my mother. The 25th Anniversary Edition is a celebration of a book that will never go out of style and is a perennial reminder of gracious traditions and feelings that are the heart's treasures.

The prose and pictures in this book are beautiful! This is a book to "experience" at all levels... emotionally and intellectually. It's like no other book I've read. It draws you in and captivates you from page one! I highly recommend this book.

In this beautiful book of verse, the poet takes us on a journey through romance, love for another, and finally self love. With a compassionate pen, she shows us a world full of yearning, intrigue, and a deepening consciousness. She allows us the opportunity to experience, through her words, desire, romantic love, and intimacy. To read this book alone gives one the opportunity for self discovery. To read this with a partner gives both people the opportunity for mutual discovery of one another. It also lays the foundation for a more complete level of understanding and responding to each other's desires. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to intesify their relationship with another as well as with themselves.

I LOVE THIS BOOK. My husband gave it to me on Valentines Day and it made me look at him a little different. A feat after twenty plus years of marriage.
I've given it to all my friends and the feedback has been very positive.

Dilia Suriel its a romantic, sensitive writer that has succeeded in merging piercing poems with beautiful images. I recommended it to anyone who is looking for a contemporary, thoughtful poetry.

"From Romance to Love to Resonance" is rich with descriptive imagery cataloging the stages of love from infatuation to passion to, finally, true togetherness. I could almost consume these verses as sustenance, they have me so alight and flushed. Suriel has proven herself a muse of all things passionate and, dare I say, lusty, without being ribald. I can't wait to see more from this woman.

Having married and divorced in the '70s, Peter McWilliams was the poet I turned to for insights into the human heart. Now Dilia Suriel has come along with a book for the 21st century, a book that, without beating you over the head, sets out in poetry and beautiful photographs the stages of a conscious relationship. Almost everyone recognizes the "romance" phase -- idealizing our partner, being concerned about how they see and respond to us, wanting to make the best impression possible, fantasizing about a possible future together. Oh yeah, and hot sex. If we manage to weather that stage, we come to "love," where we usually discover a quieter, more comfortable way of appreciating and being together with our beloved. More rarely, a couple moves into the space of "resonance," where their love for each other serves to raise and expand their consciousness into a place of oneness, of spiritual union with the whole world. This inspiring book of poetry can be opened to any page for a snapshot in time, or it can be read cover to cover to reveal the chronology of an evolving relationship. Don't just buy one, buy several. You'll keep thinking of people you want to give them to -- as wedding or anniversary gifts, or just because... Make sure to read it with someone you love.

received and read -Scott Hawley's - "HOT TIMES DURING THE COLD WAR"

I am not sure where to begin and I know for certain I cannot adequately or fairly write what I felt while reading Scott's book.

July 1989 one month after graduation from FrankfurtAmericanHigh Schoolmy family and I prepared to leave Rhein-Main Air Base (our second tour) after three, magical almost unexplainable, awesome years. The going away parties, the last days with all my friends, and the nights in Sachs that led up to our leaving was nothing compared to the day we actually had to say good-bye.

My dad was commander of the 435th Aerial Port Squadron - the Terminal at Rhein-Main - while we said our good-byes in the special room at the terminal I knew my life would NEVER be the same - as we stepped off onto the tarmac my dad's entire squadron lined up saluting my dad and our family as we prepared for the flight back to my dad's last duty station at Randolph AFB in San Antonio - while all of us attempted to hold back the tears and clear the lump from our throats we knew what we had experienced would never be repeated or easily explained -

Scott made me feel like I was back at Rhein-Main & back at FAHS. I laughed, I got that familiar lump in my throat and I was transported back 19 years, ago to Rhein-Main, Frankfurt, my dear friends and that VERY special time in life.

We were all family (all of us) and I like to think we all still are - Our circle will never be broken.

Thank you, Scott, you captured what I have been trying to "explain" all these years.

UBER ALLES!

Amy Shields
Class of 1989 FAHS!

The author did an awesome job putting great memories in poetry! Thank you for bringing back the memories of the good old days. I will definitely be sharing this book with the other Frankfurters!
Frankfurt Uber Alles
Woohoo Sue FAHS 88

HAWLEY DEFINITELY LIVED THE COLD WAR FROM AN AMERICAN YOUTH'S PERSPECTIVE LIVING IN GERMANY. VERY WELL DONE.

85-88 was some damn good times!! man, this book rocked!!! Thanks Scott for sharing the stoke.. I'll treasure it. FAHS 86

-acacio

I read this book and thought it was incredibly creative and a very touching and sweet story about the author. I loved it and highly recommend it!

Here are the title of the poems in this book. I love this book, I'm waiting for the sequel. I recommend it.

THE MIRROR
JUST BECAUSE I'M...
IMPERFECTION
HUMANITY
FRIENDS
CRUSH
BE
THE SOUND
MY MOTHER
WHAT I LIKE IN YOU?
MY SECRET ADMIRER
YOU
DREAM
A GOOD FRIEND INDEED
MISSING YOU
LIPS
JUST ONE MOMENT
MY BEST FRIEND
ONE KISS OF YOURS
IF YOU WERE HERE
JEALOUSY
AN INSPIRATION PLACE
FEELING
IN YOUR ABSENCE
SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY
SET ME FREE
TEARS
LOVE LETTERS
SOLITUDE
MY WOUNDED HEART
THE LONELINESS
I FELT TOO MUCH
HOW DO YOU HEAL THE PAIN?
WHEN YOU WERE GONE
I GAVE ALL MY LOVE
IF YOU WERE MY CREATION...
YOU'RE MY SECRET
JUST BY SEEING YOU AGAIN
A LOVE OUT OF THE BLUE
WHEN LOVE IS NEEDED
MORE THAN FRIENDSHIP

I don't understand much about poems, but this book is unique. I could understand what the author is trying to express, she went straight to the point. I love it ... Awesome!

I think all the libraries should get copies of this wonderful/written book of poetry for their collection. In addition, I think all the bookstores should carry this book in their shelves. Because I read some of her poems, and it touched my heart and even changed the way I express my feelings.

Posted on Thu, Jun. 30, 2005

Immigrant uses language of poetry
WORK REFLECTS YOUTH'S EXPERIENCE
By Kimra McPherson
Mercury News

When Michelle Carreiro moved to the United States from Brazil at age 14, she spoke little English. She felt like an outsider at school, and she struggled to make friends.

Poetry quickly became her outlet. It was a way to practice her new vocabulary, she said -- and to express her feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Now 28, the Palo Alto resident has published a collection of those early poems.

``Remembrance of Youth'' includes more than 40 poems that Carreiro wrote between the ages of 15 and 22. Many deal with issues familiar to teens and young adults: friendship, family, the desire to love and be loved. All reflect Carreiro's experience of being a teenage immigrant trying to make sense of a new world.

The earliest poems use simple English, the words Carreiro knew at the time. As her vocabulary grew, her poetry became more sophisticated.

But letting others read her work remained a hurdle.

``In the beginning, I didn't want to share,'' she said.

Eventually, she got up the courage to post some poems on a Web site. Other writers offered feedback, and she used their comments to revise her work.

Carreiro also writes in Spanish and Portuguese, her native language. Different subjects call for different languages, she said: She often writes about love in English, but poems about childhood, her family or nature feel more comfortable in Portuguese.

Carreiro, who works as a library media technician at West Valley College Library, said she is already at work on another collection of poems about her life as a young adult.

``I've already got a title,'' she said. ``I just have to figure out what to put in it.''

REMEMBRANCE OF YOUTH

Michelle Carreiro

RoseDog Books, 54 pp., $10.

I read this book twice and I can't get enough of it. I was even surprise to know, there was a review about the author. The article was in San Jose Mercury News (online) - June 30, 2005 under the title "Immigrant Uses Language of Poetry". If you get the chance check it out. Michelle, keep the good work - I can't wait for the sequel.