Poetry Books

A very bold book, with uncensored views. It had a story to tell. A story of African American life.

Upon reading this book for the first time, I thought it was very raw and somewhat negative and offensive. After reading it a second time, I realized how true it really is. I understood that the words didn't come from the author's mouth. But from a mother, a man, a teen, a gangster, etc. Then, I was able to relate and appreciate the work. The author of this book is very talented as she travels through the thoughts of various individuals, in various situations. She definitely doesn't beat around the bush. Her words jump right at you. You can't help but recognize them, respect them and open your eyes.

"Open Our Eyes" is a poetry book filled with truth and power. It offers poignant reflections on the African-American's place in today's society. The poems are intense and absorbing. Nanci's poetry goes beyond the superficial blanket that many people tend to hide behind. The depth of the poetry will strike a chord in the souls of many. Nanci is truly a gifted writer who is using her talent to leave a legacy of hope for African Americans everywhere.

I really enjoyed the poetry of Open Our Eyes. Everything in this book has crossed my mind before or I have discussed it with friends. The author is bold and courageous enough to write about it. This author is a powerful performer. I was able to see her in action in Houston. She is adorable, funny and personable. I felt as if I knew her all of my life. Buy a book for yourself and a friend.

I am not much of a reader. It can take me weeks to finish a book no matter how good it is. I live in a slow town, but I just don't have the time,even though I live in a boring town. But this book was diffrent. It is so good I could not put it down. The poems are excellent and make you want to finish the whole book.

I showed this to my small children, older nieces, sister, mother, friends, and grandmother. It appealed to all of them. I bought the deluxe book of flower fairies, the complete flower fairy book and the paper doll book. I needed them for art reference books.

The difference in the first two is:
The deluxe book has a history of the author, her sketches and inspirations, timeline, her prosesses, lots of botanical notes. very collectiors edition, silver leaf and all.

The complete book has fairy's has a 1 page intro of the author then goes straight into images and poems. each has the seasons collections, but the complete has; in addition, the fairies of the garden, trees, wayside and a flower fairy alphabet.

I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for my sister, who loves Barker's illustrations. It arrived even more quickly than scheduled, in great condition.

Cicely Mary Barker's eight little flower fairies books were published between 1923 and 1985 making her a household name, especially in Great Britain. Published at the height of the "fairy-mania" that swept England during the early decades of the 20th century they captured in sweetly beautiful images and verse the wonder that many people felt about these elusive tiny creatures. Cicely Mary Barker (1895-1973) was predominately a self taught artist who during her lifetime suffered from ill-health and physical fragility, thus she escaped into the world of the imagination and make believe. Her unselfconscious, delicate and jewel like watercolors were influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, fellow women illustrator Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) and her love of England's many gardens.

Her inspiration for the flower fairies came from the lush English countryside and observing young children at her local village kindergarten where her sister worked as a teacher. Her fairies are delicately and truthfully observed depictions of these young children in naturalistic poses and postures, standing on or clinging to botanically correct and beautifully rendered flowers. Being no bigger than 20cm tall they live and sleep in their birth flower taking care of their respective tree or plant, as the tree or plant grows so they grow in wisdom and power too. Fairies were most popular in the late Victorian and the Edwardian ages but they continued to hold sway over the imaginations of countless children (primarily girls) up into the early modern era... and beyond.

This enchanting and wondrous volume is a collection of all eight flower fairies books including: flower fairies of the spring, summer, autumn and winter and the flower fairies of the alphabet, trees, garden and wayside. As some of the most timeless depictions of the world of faery Cicely Mary Barker captured the innocence and naivety of childhood in exquisitely rendered illustrations and simple verse. While some may see these fairies as "safe" and "tame" depictions of the primal and elemental forces of nature, in my mind they capture the spirit of a bygone era when peoples mores and values were just plain different to ours, if not in some ways better. As such her little fairies lack the cynicism, artificiality and worldliness of the modern age and will continue to hold sway over the minds of generations of fairy lovers to come and will bring out the child within in anyone willing to let themselves go.

Sixty Five years ago, when I was a little girl, I sat at my fathers feet looking at a book that had marvelous pictures of beautiful fairys, so stunning were their bright colors and silky wings that it completely took my breath away for never could I have pictured anything quite so awsome as these tiny little creatures, that I was sure were hiding beneath the petals of flowers in mothers garden, that I had yet to see. I kept this memory all my life sharing it with my children, when they were little, and now my grandchildren. Imagine my astonishment to once again see these beautiful little people again. Take a trip back to childhood and enjoy this beautiful book, share it with your children but keep it for the child that is you.

Beautiful book - I am painting a mural for my daughter's room and wanted to get all the images possible so I bought all the books by this author thinking I was getting a menagerie. But I wasted $ on shipping both ways when I had to send them back upon seeing the smaller tree, flowers, and seasons books were all put together in one place. Just wanted others to know that this large hardback pretty much has it all.

`War makes you do such things/ as keeping an IV running on a dead body all night/ so his neighboring wounded buddy/ won't give up until he can be MedEvaced/ to a field hospital/ the next lonely morning.'-from poem number 12 by Grady Harp

There is no better way to describe Grady Harp's short but powerful poetry collection, enhanced by Stephen Freedman's evocative clay sculptures, than to quote the author himself. He states that `these poems represents one physician's survival kit in Vietnam.'

While death and destruction soared all around him, Dr. Harp, a dedicated healer of men, dealt with the antithesis of his calling with the sort of grieving that demanded from the mourner's heart the profound beauty of poetry to make some sense of it, or if not make sense of it, place the carnage he witnessed as a physician, in some sort of perspective.

Because of my lottery number back in 1969/1970 (352 I believe) I was not called to arms for the Vietnam War, but from then to now I have been touched by its senseless waste of braver men than me.

My often-arrogant attitude when I was young, rebellious, revolutionary, reactionary, and maybe too artsy-fartsy for my own good (not one of these things in and of itself was wrong or ignoble, well maybe the arrogance, which could have been as certifiably screwed up as our then war policy), presented me with an artificial viewpoint of that war.

I experienced the Vietnam War peripherally in real time and later re-imagined through Francis Ford Coppola's grand opera cinematique "Apocalypse Now," Michael Cimino's near cinema-verite "The Deer Hunter," and Oliver Stone's heart-wrenching melodrama "Platoon."

Still, as moving as those experiences were, nothing has quite moved me as much as Grady Harp's up-close-and-personal experience with pain so complex, yet so simple and unadorned and, ultimately, pure.

"War Songs" deserves, no, is obligated to be a perennial. What its poems say about war is as constant in our consciousness as thirteen-year-old Anne Frank's diary entries and Alex Haley's simple examination of his family's roots from African royalty to American slavery.

No, it's not easy to make sense of the evil some visit upon others. But may we ever be reminded. May the poet's voice ring through with simple, anguish-filled, agenda-free observations, so that we may learn from our pasts in an effort to better our future.

Hopefully, Doctor Harp will re-release "War Songs" so that we may all have a copy in our library for the ever-resonant poetry, and for the constant reminder that we are human beings.
Looker: A Novel

Grady Harp has written 20 poems about his experience as a physician in Vietnam-- a place that few Americans could have found on a map if their lives had depended on it before that awful ill-fated war that still haunts us. It appears that Harp wrote them with no thought of ever having them published. (We are grateful he did, however.) He says in an eloquent essay that he wrote the poems as a diary: "If I could arrange the day's events in poetic form, my attention could be focused on the poem, resolving form and verse while actual atrocities could be codified, then put away for now, allowing me to go on." Mr. Harp's collaborator is the potter Stephen Freedman who is photographed creating clay pieces that make a statement, as he says in his essay, in "the only language I know well enough to communicate emotion this close to the souls of all of us."

Accessible and short, the poems often start with a harmless enough image, soldiers having a beer, a comrade talking, a "happy laugh," and end with devastation and death. I have read these poems again and again. Two of them are seared in my brain: Number 16, about a favorite Vietnamese nurse who "wasted all her patients with a stolen M16" and Number 12 that shows so much compassion. Like all good poetry, it speaks for itself and is much better read than paraphrased.

War makes you do such things
as keeping an IV running on a dead body all night
so his neighboring wounded buddy
won't give up until he can be MedEvaced
to a field hospital
the next lonely morning.

I heard a lot of one-way conversations
at night
in Vietnam.

While these poems may have been written to keep one army physician sane, they speak to the universal: the awfulness of war, the suffering and dying of men just about to live and of course are as relevant in 2007, almost 40 years later, as the day they were written. They rise to the level of fine literature and deserve to be compared to the writing of Walt Whitman and Rupert Brooke, both of whose works I thought of when I read Mr. Harp's poems.

I' ve heard about WAR SONGS and read so many of the reviews.
I felt in my heart I had to read the Poems for myself. It's so
touching just writing about it makes me sad. I was a teenager,
but I do remember hearing the news and the reporting about
Vietnam so many young American men were being killed. When
Mr. Harp brought his Poems, to Stephen Freedman to read,
he cried that's exactly what I did when I read them. You can't
help but feel the pain, he has written in the Poems. 2,4,5,11,
the Poems are very painful for me to read. Grady Harp and
Stephen Freeman did a superb job in the composition of the book.

I ordered two WAR SONGS one for me and one for a friend. I've
known over the years who lost her husband in Vietnam MIA,
all these years, she hasn't reach the point of closure. Her
husband never came home to have a proper burial.
I highly recommend WAR SONGS!

Forget the naysayers! Harp is fantastic. This poor man is under constant attack. There are many people who are envious of his standing. Don't fall prey to their comments. He is a genius and should be honored as one!

I just read a copy of this book, loaned from a friend.

I'm too emotional now to write a good review. I cried like a baby when I read it, but they were healing tears. My father passed away recently without my ever understanding the horror he had suffered in Viet Nam.

I wish I had had this book to share with him; then perhaps we could have talked. It might have helped him too.

I've tried to get a copy of this book for myself, but it's out of print and everyone who owns one must treasure it for himself.

Thanks Mr. Harp for your sensitive, healing book that helped me and so many others, I'm sure. Please try to bring this book out again.

Of all the books I received as baby gifts, this book has had the longest lifespan. It was my daughter's favorite book as soon as she was old enough to turn regular pages, and almost a year later, it still is. Unlike shorter board books which become very repetitive, this book still has poems that seem "fresh" to me. Everytime we read it's a different experience, depending how many pages we turn at a time. It can be a short book or a long book, depending on the day. The illustrations are incredibly detailed. Even after what seems like a thousand reads, I'm finding clever twists and recognizing characters from elsewhere in the book. This book is a classic and offers lots of bang for your buck.

The illustrations for the rhymes are all of cats and other animals as stand in for humans and are very cute. As for the rhymes, there are not many of them and some are truncated.

When my kids were small, I went into a "Mother Goose" kick. I bought and checked out from the Library every Mother Goose I could find, we read them all, and THIS was by far our favorite. The selection of poems was varied, with old favorites and new poems I'd never heard from my childhood as well. The illustrations are beautiful and very fun, Rosemary Wells knows just how kids minds work!

This is a very good book, but it's not quite what I'd imagined. Most of the rhymes were not familiar to me. The illustrations are beautiful, though, and it's fun to read. We enjoy it, but if I had seen it before buying, I probably wouldn't have bought it.

Publisher's Weekly called this book "exuberant" and that's exactly the right word for it. Bright primary colors make up this book, and Rosemary Wells' adorable characters populate the rhymes. Unlike some Mother Goose books, this one is meaty -- it boasts 108 pages, with a rhyme on almost every page. That's a lot of nights of Mother Goose at bedtime.

Nursery rhymes help build phonological awareness, an important pre-reading skill. Research has actually shown that children who memorize nursery rhymes go on to become better readers than those who do not.

This book makes a great baby gift, and a terrific birthday or holiday gift for a toddler or preschooler. It's the one I grab first when I recommend nursery rhymes to library visitors.

This book is wonderful. It contains many of the poems I learned while growing up, and now I can share them with my grands, as I did with their moms. It stays at "Nana's house" for those special visits.. I hope the little ones (5 of them) will learn to love these words as I did.

This book is a treasure. The art is light filled and the selections are very satisfying. Leave it to Caroline Kennedy to share her wealth with the rest of us in her tasteful way.

I planned to give this book as a gift, so "new condition" was important. When I received it, it did look perfect. Then I opened the front cover. On the inside page was a big inscription "Happy Chanukah from Grandpa Vic"...to my family" etc. That rendered it unusable for my use...and not mentioned in the pre-purchase information.

I ended up giving my own copy, which truly was in new condition, and keeping the inscripted version for myself.

We have borrowed this book several times from the library and I am ordering my own copy today. This has become one of my three year old's favorite bedtime books. Some of the poems are too long for her, and there are many I have to explain to her as we read. I'm buying the book because I anticipate that it is complex and interesting enough to hold her attention for some years to come. This book has a great selection of poetry and beautiful illustrations. I anticipate purchasing several copies in the future as gifts for friends and family.

Jon Muth's breathtaking paintings and Caroline Kennedy's choice of poems make this book a treasure for middle aged me, and children of all ages.

This boxed set was almost a steal it was such a price and quality! The works flowed with what can only be assumed near the original prose and was explained in great detail. Please do buy this item!

"The Iliad":
It is obvious that, as Santayana wrote in 1924, "Only the dead have seen the end of war" and, as elegantly shown in Fagles' translation of, "The Iliad", the tradition of military brutality coupled with the equally obvious fact that, "Iron has powers to draw a man to ruin" (Odyssey) are elements of the human condition; they exert a compelling attraction in their various forms and facets to humans of all stripes, but especially, perhaps, to poets, historians and novelists.

"The Iliad", as is known to any high school student, recounts the siege of Troy by the Achaens and the "rage of Achilles" directed both toward his putative ally and commander (Agamemnon) and to his enemy, Troy. The machinations of the gods underpin the tale, with the Judgement of Paris (arousing the ire of Hera, Queen of the Gods) as the motive force. There is gore galore in the epic poem and plenty of raw emotion, tellingly conveyed in the new English text. The extensive introductory remarks by Bernard Knox place the work in historical and literary context.

While this translation has been extolled by a pantheon of reviewers as the "climax" of the art, I still favor the E.V. Rieu (founder of Penguin Classics) prose version of 1946 of both this epic and "The Odyssey". Rieu's effort (acknowledged by the translator, but not considered on par with others) carries the reader in a more "Victorian" and perhaps fastidious fashion to the harrowing conclusion (Achilles triumph over Hector, killer of Patroclus). I am not able to compare the various versions with respect to the original; I only express my opinion as a lay reader.

"The Odyssey":
The "sequel" to "The Iliad", this recounts the eponymous saga of Odysseus (Ulysses) in his attempts to return home from the siege of Troy. It is truly an epic and is, like "The Iliad", one of the cornerstones of Western literature. Really, one cannot claim to be "educated" in Western civilization without a working knowledge of these two books. The claimant to the throne of "best book of the 20th Century" , James Joyce's, "Ulysses" simply cannot be fully appreciated nor understood without a knowledge of this work. As I wrote for, "The Iliad", the new Fagles translation is outstanding, but I again favor Rieu's version; a minority opinion.

In conclusion, these are magnificent works which deserve the recent attention the Fagles/Knox collaboration has engendered. "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" should be read and appreciated in any translation, but these are probably the best. Both also prove that, "...fate takes hold and lays them out at last" (Athena to Telemachus, "Odyssey"). So also does hubris and the lure of revenge, because, like fate, the lust for revenge cannot be tricked.

Incidentally, the boxed set/deluxe edition is well worth owning, compared to the "trade" paperback edition.

I love feeling pages in between my fingers and a new book always lifts my spirits. The boxed set is truly a collectible item.
The books by themselves are translated by award winning translator,
Robert Fagles.
The introduction takes the reader through the premise and the verse itself is very simple and simplifies the epic.
The reader wont get confused with the myriad of characters but instead the book sequentially unfolds the main characters and their importance to the legacy of Iliad and Odyssey.

I really am enjoying reading this book again. read it in uni and hated every bit of it; but this time around, with this version, i can really get into what is happening. the index and annotations in the back are great for those of us that are not experts on Homer.
The book itsself is really cool. i love how the pages are serrated. books are lightweight and not so big at to be a pain to carry in your bag. this is a solid purchase.

The Iliad

With many books, translations are negligible, with two obvious exceptions, one is the Bible, and surprisingly the other is The Iliad.

For example:

"Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
Murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many souls,
great fighters' souls. But made their bodies carrion,
feasts for dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving towards its end.
Begin, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,
Agamemnon lord of men and brilliant Achilles."
-Translated by Robert Fagles

"Sing, O Goddess, the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a heroes did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures for so were the counsels of Zeus fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles first fell out with one another."
-Translated by Samuel Butler

Our story takes place in the ninth year of the ongoing war. We get some introduction to the first nine years but they are just a background to this tale of pride, sorrow and revenge. The story will also end abruptly before the end of the war.

We have the wide conflict between the Trojans and Achaeans over a matter of pride; the gods get to take sides and many times direct spears and shields.

Although the more focused conflict is the power struggle between two different types of power. That of Achilles, son of Peleus and the greatest individual warier and that of Agamemnon, lord of men, who's power comes form position.

We are treated to a blow by blow inside story as to what each is thinking and an unvarnished description of the perils of war.
=======================================================
The Odyssey
"I long to be homeward bound" Simon and Garfunkle

The Trojan War is over and one of our hero kings is lost. His son (Telemachus) travels to find any information about his father's fait. His wife (Penelope) must cunningly hold off suitors that are eating them out of house and home.

If he ever makes it home Odysseus will have to detect those servants loyal from those who are not. One absent king against rows of suitors; how will he give them their just deserts? We look to Bright Eyed Pallas Athena to help prophecy come true.

Interestingly all the tales of monsters and gods on the sea voyage was told by Odysseus. Notice that no on else survives to tell the tale. So we have to rely on Odysseus' word.

Many movies took sections of The Odyssey, and expanded them to make interesting stories those selves.

Not just the story but the way in which it is told will keep you up late at night reading.


Troy (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)
The Archaeology of Heinrich Schliemann: An Annotated Bibliographic Handlist

I absolutely love this book. It has such a great message, and I agree with a lot of the other reviewers that the message is wonderful for both kids and adults.

The illustrations are wonderfully simple, and I really like how there are few words per page. This book makes for a great read aloud book for pre-schoolers. I read this book recently in front of my class of 4 and 5-year-olds and they clapped at the triumphant ending of the book...they were so happy for the missing piece!

Shel Silverstein's representation of human relationships and the many "holes" that people often have is very astute. I think the subtleties of the different personalities might be over the head of children, but most adults will see just how spot on he is.

I really really can't celebrate this book enough.

This classic book was really written for children, but it has a powerful message for people of all ages!

The drawings are simple but effective, and the story is one that we all can relate to. The Missing Piece starts out alone and is looking for someone or something to complete it. By the end of the story, The Missing Piece realizes he doesn't need anyone to complete him. He is already complete.

This is a very quick read that can help build the confidence of a young child, and can help adults regain the confidence they may have lost somewhere along the way!

This was a gift to me after a divorce. The content is simple yet profound and I love to share it with my children in hopes that they too will know that relationships are at their healthiest when people are whole and complete, rather than half of a whole like a friendship necklace (to the chagrin of tweeners everywhere!) ;) I now share this with others who are going through relationship troubles or struggle with their self-worth.

A person who was one of the most influential in my life gave this to me as a gift. After reading the book, the gesture impacted me that much more. I buy this for anyone that means something to me. This type of book should be shared by all. Silverstein is a master who I still feel isn't talked about enough.

Don't forget 'The Missing Piece'!

I LOVE this book. What a simple way of viewing the process of breakups and of finding meaningful relationships! Great for readers of all ages.

I recently picked up a copy of this book. I have been a long time fan of Michael Easton since his days on Port Charles. I usually don't read too much poetry, but this was exquisitely written and beautifully articulated by this wonderful actor and writer. This being the story of Michael Easton's life during his "dark time", it is a must read. It truly allows you to look into the soul of Michael Easton and get to know a little about the man himself. TRULY BEAUTIFUL!

What an eye opener to the actor/author/artist, Michael Easton. If you think everyone who is famous now always had it easy, think again. Get a glimps into the life before stardom, you may find he is more like you than you ever thought. A real person, not a fairy tail in motion. Bravo Michael!!!

i don't really care for poetry, but i do enjoy michael easton on "one life to live" and have been curious about this book since i first heard of it a couple of years ago. i wondered if the darkness he personally experienced while coming of age was what he draws upon while acting out intense scenes.
i think i have my answer. the book can be dark, but enlightening all at once, and i admire him for putting it down on paper for all to see. it would be wonderful if everyone that had experiences such as these could rise above them and become an expressive, functional human being.

I had seen Michael Easton as Caleb on Port Charles, then learned of this poetry book. It was phenomenal- not the traditional rhyming poetry, but true poetry from the heart. I loved this book.

I usually like more traditional poetry, Donne, Keats, Shelley, but Michael Easton has written a beautiful, real and honest book of poetry about his life. It is not all hearts and flowers but very powerful and moving nonetheless. I hope he finds the time and the muse to write another book of poetry. His honesty and truth were quite refreshing.

This rhyming children's book is terrific toddler reading. The drawings are beautiful and our kids have both loved it. Our two year old loves the animal illustrations and verses. A great pick!

We recently ordered 5 copies of Quick as a Cricket for our grandson and as gifts for other children. Our kids grew up with this book and it is timeless. All the copies we ordered were paperback but one arrived supersized. The pages are 15 x17 which is wonderful. The pages of the smaller books are 6x6. Both sizes have their uses but we really enjoy the wonderful illustrations in the larger format.

My children love this book (they are 5, 3 and 1). The illustrations are amazing and the words are few, but very creative. It's very fun to immitate the pages as well.

Cute book! There are puppets that can be purchased to go along with the story, they are great for kids to keep them engaged and involoved.

I used to use this book while teaching children at a learning center, and now I use this book to read to my daughter before bedtime. The pictures are great! The read is short which is great for kids with short attention spans. Absolutely a must have!

This is a classic. The art work is very nice and it will be a great read every Christmas with the kids.

The drawings are excellently crafted. This book is a pleasure to read and view!

This version of "The Night Before Christmas" is by far the best illustrated edition I have ever seen. The artwork is incredible. My children love looking at all the vibrant, detailed pictures, and I even pause while reading the story so I can look at the pictures too. It seems like I find something new in the artwork everytime we read the story. Make sure to get a copy of the book for each of your children. You will want to pass this down to them so they can read it to their own children some day, and I would hate to have to choose who would get this beautiful book, and deal with the ramifications of the one who did not!

Book is so beautifully illustrated, it does the classic poem justice. It made a great "first christmas" gift.

This is a beautifully done book. It is the same classic story we all know and love, and the illustrations are brilliant. Mary Engelbreit's drawings fill the page, are colorful and detailed. Everytime you look at the pictures you will notice a small detail that you've previously missed. My daughter is 3 months old, but when I read this to her, she actually stared at the page with wide eyes as if she was amazed at all the colors. This is certainly one book I will buy for my friends' children, and I highly recommend it.