Poetry Books

I have always been very jealous of Amanda's writing ability. Her poetry has always touched my soul. But when I read this book Jealosy turned to Envy. I only wish I could write half as well as she. Her words are perfect. Her writing very emotional and directed. I absolutely loved it! Awesome!

A wonderful and very powerful book by an equally wonderful and powerful person. One thing I will say is that you have to let her work grow on you. It is not something you will necessarily understand on the first read, however, given time and thought, it will open your mind in ways that no other poetry can. On a side note, Amanda, this is your old friend Matt from Eastern. I'm sorry to have to communicate this way, for when you called me and left a message back in February of this year, I did not have the courage to call you back. And for that I am sorry. I hope you read this and contact me, because I'd love to hear from you. It has been so long. Please email me at mattcrouch@juno.com or IM me at mattwifflepro. Again, sorry to have to attempt to contact you this way, but I lost your number when I got my new cell phone and I don't have your email address for some reason. Sorry again.

I enjoyed this book in it's entirety. There is a poem in this book entitled, "REGRET" if you only read one poem again in your life...You have to read this one. Only three lines long, it is POWERFUL. This woman has seen life in a way I could have never imagined existed. I recommend this book to everyone who likes to learn from a different point of view.. Because Mrs. Suddeth/Pollard is creative, enlightening, and VERY different.

I was required to read this book by a friend who lives in Connecticut. She knew the author and believed she was the most intense, woman she had ever met. She said she and I had a lot in common and that I would benefit from reading the poems of such a "deep" woman. After reading many of the poems, I can say this woman is INTENSE. She has a lot of power behind her. And the book is definately bold and "in your face". I know my friend said the author was 21 or 22 when she wrote the book but I have a hard time beleiving how that is possible. This woman has led a experienced life. An awesome view of life written by a women who knows how to put her thoughts on paper.I look forward to reading more of Amanda Suddeth/Pollard.

The Hard Ride is a fitting title for this book. It is apparent that the author has been to "hell" and back. Her book is filled with opinions of life, good, bad, and EXTREMELY offensive. She will certainly get your blood flowing. I read this book as a dare, from a friend who thought it was great, but has very different taste than I do. I can honestly say, I was offended by much of it, but my friends who have read it really enjoyed it. I guess it is art, and art is subjective... Read it at your own risk.

Great story and illustrations. My son was afraid of thunder until we read this book. We had a decent thunderstorm recently and my son asked me if the storm will help the flowers grow as taught in the book!

A wonderful book to teach young children not to be afraid of thunder. My great nieces and nephew enjoyed the story. Great illustrations.

A great story plus terrific art equals a quality children's book. All kids can relate - my daughter loved it!

This is a wonderful book for my young grandchildren, nieces and nephews. The fictional character "Mandy" is so adorable and she learns that it is ok to be afraid. I can't wait to meet her twin brother "Andy" in the "Mandy and Andy" series.

It's not often (try almost never) that I've seen a self-published book that was well written and professional looking. The only exception in my admittedly limited experience is McClear and Dollak's "Frannie and Pickles," and that was by far Dollak's best.

So, it's a pleasure to enthusiastically recommend William Adams' bilingual "Hate That Thunder/Odio Ese Trueno," illustrated by the talented Tom Stiglich (an honors graduate of the Art Institute of Philadelphia). Look for that exact title at Amazon.Com; it's the bilingual edition that came out about a year after the one on this page (and it'll save you almost a quarter!). "Hate That Thunder/Odio Ese Trueno," has both an English and a Spanish language version of the story; flip the book over vertically and you'll get the other language.

This "Mandy and Andy" book concerns big-eyed, yellow-haired Mandy, who faces a common childhood fear--the loud sound of THUNDER! Author Adams, a former newspaper editor and publisher, shows his writing chops in this first book: The rhymes move the story along with emotion, action, and humor, and they're natural and unforced. What a welcome change to my somewhat jaded eyes! Here's Mandy talking about one thunder coping mechanism:

I know my bed's for sleeping on,
But sometimes I slide under...
I don't know how others feel
But I sure hate that thunder!

Mandy coaches herself through her fear, remembering that 'it's just Mother Nature's sound...a signal that the rain is coming down,' and (as Al Jolson sang many years ago), that rain makes the flowers grow! Talking herself through her fear, Mandy proudly sports an "I'm Brave" button at the conclusion. As mentioned above, flip the book, and you get the story in Spanish.

Tom Stiglich draws big, colorful pictures that recall Saturday morning TV fare. His use of boldly contrasting, electric colors echoes the subject matter, and when Mandy's teddy bear copies her facial expressions--well, the book's target audience of 4 through 8 years old will break out laughing. The pictures and font are large enough for group story time. Whether in the classroom or at home, the story could generate discussions about science and coping with fears.

I think the book could have used a glossary to facilitate language learnin; Mr. Adams informed me that this is planned for all future "Mandy and Andy" books. A CD with the stories read in both Spanish and English is another possibility. The next book in the series (Goin' to the Zoo/Vamos Al Zoologico) is scheduled for a May 2007 release. Be sure to visit website "www.mandyandandybooks.com" for news about upcoming books and appearances, biographies of William Adams (who once co-produced a record, "The Story of Howdy Doody" with Buffalo Bob Smith and others from the original cast!) and Tom Stiglich, and to give feedback. An auspicious beginning for this team!

I could not put this book down. From start to finish it touches my soul with memories and places of lives that have crossed my path. It made me think about love and how love can be found. People are something very special, I started with a different one, but since have ordered the entire set and love each one. Truthfully, you can relate to some or all of the poems.

A few years ago a boyfriend bought me one of Javan's books as a gift. I have since collected them all. He is an amazing poet who captures emotions we feel everyday in his poetry. He is a must for any poetry collection.

Self Contained Hearts as opposed to selfish hearts are always full of love, and do not depend upon others to provide the justification for living, or the direction for living consistent with their beliefs. While they may seek support and advocacy in their accomplishments, they rarely require that for motivation to pursue their interests. They possess internal engines and are usually self guided like heat seeking missles often driven by conscience relying upon tenacity and perseverance. Setbacks become hurdles to be overcome within the context of larger goals and big picture worlds made possible because the heart is full, and not partially developed and fully applied. They rarely rely upon the acceptance of others and usually define success differently than most.

These books have helped me through every difficult situation I have encountered. I am amazed that I can re-read them over and over and still be moved by the emotion and sincerity in the words. This is the best set of books I have ever owned.

i loved every word he wrote he is so talented he just knows how to use & feel words .... keep it all up & god bless you......

I bought the book for my four-year-old great-granddaughter. The poem choices are charming and the illustrations are delightful. I showed "Here's a Little Poem" to neighbors in the senior complex where I live and sold four more copies. Two of the buyers are retired primary teachers; one is a retired librarian; I am a retired Professor of English. We all agree that this is the perfect introduction to poetry for little people.

I bought this book for my 3yr old neice, and although it she is a bit young, she loves it!

This book is just adorable. It has short poems, longer poems, funny poems, night-night poems... you get the idea. A poem for everything. I read some to my 5 month old daughter the other night and she just kept giggling when I really got into it. I love it, worth it.

I gave my 2, almost 3 year old this book for Christmas. She was very
taken with it from the start, and she declined to open more presents.
She said "No, I'm reading." We then read it before her nap, and she
loved it. Older children will like it too. She is taking the parts
she understands right now and the lovely illustrations. I know she will
treasure it for many years to come.Here's A Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry

A wonderful, easy intro to children's poetry that will have parents enjoying it also. Great illustrations, too.

Every single story has a link between the eastern U.S. coast and the western U.S. coast. Ingenious. And superb writing.

As all of Domini's work, this is a rolicking good read. He is the master of character, and he captures with a great ear and deft hand, the mood of our time and place. I recommend him highly for anybody who is alive and kicking.

Domini has done it once again. This time, Domini spills more than the usual fanfare of guts and glory as he winds us down the road toward fantastic character development and edge-of-your-seat tales. This wonderful opus is a must for any reader who enjoys escape into fantasies that unlock imagination and emotions. Truly a joyous read!

THis is a great book to escape into. Losers and unsettled types lead the reader to self evaluation. Through their struggles with the tribulations and the moral implications of the decisions they make, we face our own issues.

Lots of short stories with a lot of great imagery - enjoyed the rea

I first found Ginger Andrews through the Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor. Keillor reads her poems frequently on the air. I bought two of her books for my sister's birthday (she has lots of poems about her sisters). I loved them so much that I kept this one for myself. My husband sat down and read this book before I did. My sister called a few days after her birthday to say she loved "Hurricane Sisters" - the other book.Andrews is a Sunday School teacher, has a house cleaning business with her sisters, has a "problem" family just like the rest of us and she is my new favorite poet.

I've given and will continue to give this book as a gift to my best friends. Ginger Andrews speaks volumes in so few words. Her poems make me cry, laugh and everything in between. God bless you, Ginger Andrews! Your words touch my heart in a very special way.

Garrison Keillor has read poems from this collection 10 times (!) on The Writer's Almanac, and as many of us know, Mr. Keillor knows what he's talking about. Ginger Andrews sounds like no one else. Her poems are artful yet seem unadorned. Her compassion is compelling. A true artist.

An Honest Answer is an intense, personal collection of original free-verse poetry by Ginger Andrews. The thoughtful and vividly expressed ideas combined with the impressionistic language have rightfully earned An Honest Answer the 12 Annual Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize. An Honest Answer is a first-class read for poetry buffs. ReClassified: WWII took just about any man,/but Dad couldn't see to good/out of one eye, was blind in the other,/had high blood pressure/three kids and a wife.//They bused him/from Jefferson Barracks in Saint Louis/back home to Gideon/where he worked at a box factory/making just enough money to feed his family/and keep a roof over our heads,...

What a JOY it was to read poetry written by a real person about real life and not some cryptic, elitist so-called poet who knows nothing about the world that most of us live in! I applaud you, Ginger, for writing your life down so eloquently in these awesome poems. I ran me a hot tub of water last night after a very long day at work and got in the tub with your book....and didn't get out until I'd read the last page. I felt refreshed inside and out and somehow vindicated as a person about my own life after reading of yours. This book is a priceless treasure and I plan to buy many more copies for my poetry-loving friends....as soon as I have the money! LOL! You go, girl!

Rachel Loden talks with the second half of the 20th Century using a wealth of tones, creating some of the smartest, most aesthetically pleasing, social poetry of our time. Interesting both in its subject matter and in its engagement of poetic structures, Hotel Imperium is a must read for anyone interested in what poetry can accomplish. This is truely the sort of poetry that presents the "news that stays news," where the voice of Richard Nixon can speak (from within others): "This is the new socialist brain. This is the statue / of Dzerzhinsky falling over. This is my wife Pat. / This is an ode to the Bratsk Hydroelectric Project. / And I just want to say [abort, retry, fail . . .] / / the kids, like all kids, love the little dog." --from "The Death of Checkers"

Rachel Loden's elegant writing transported me. I was challenged by the political and historical references, touched by her tenderness and reduced to giggles by her wry humor. This book is a "must read" for readers interested in American history and compelled by incisive writing.

Rachel Loden's HOTEL IMPERIUM is the best kind of political satire: passionate, wildly comic, and aimed at the language and mentality which make possible the folly and cruelties of the twentieth century. The poems are witty, as the poems of Donne, Dryden and Pope are witty--agile, musical, possessing an elegance of form that is put to use in the service of this poet's moral indignation, which often manifests as irreverence. "She is not there, except her body/ is the specter in her Living/Underwear." Or "EMPIRE'S the thing/ that totters forward with its mouse/ears on, paterfamilias/ of so many little feet." Like Swift, she is often savage, while at the same time exhuberantly clever: "I remain the rhapsodist of cunning, blithering/songbird of iniquity, and while-u-wait/ the law I love moves through here/ like a wall of fire, and it is leaving/ everything exactly as it stands, and/ saving nothing in its wake.

The poet's enterprise is weighty, and though the poems are a romp, beauty has a place here as well. Take the following from "The Rowboat at Vladivostok:" "Now your voice is full/ of what it was to leave the Marianas. on that morning. Antares graying in the sky,/ the tradewinds blowing through the porpoises.

I could not put this book down, once I started it. Then I went back and re-read at random, for pure pleasure. Loden has accomplished a rare feat--she has taken on the enormous foolishness behind evil and harnessed it in these tight, energetic, and graceful poems.

"The heart's a mouth" running a "rivulet//of chatter." But make no mistake about it. Rachel Loden may be talking as fast as she can but what she has to say and how she says it is neither idle nor trivial. The poems in HOTEL IMPERIUM are brilliant, sassy, boldly irreverant, disarmingly subversive. Nothing and no one, from Chinese terra cotta warriors in Xian to Richard Nixon, from Dead Sea Scrolls to Elvis Presley, escapes her relentless yet "amiable eye"-an eye honed by a keen intelligence determined to cut everything down to size as it stalks and demystifies the "irrational exuberance" which seems to afflict our end-of-the-millennium world. In the HOTEL IMPERIUM of Rachel Loden, guests "sleep uneasy." The "terrible beauty" of William Butler Yeats undergoes a stunning metamorphosis/incarnation as Cruella de Ville: a "terrible beauty/is bored" while she plots "on her red/bedside telephone." The revenant of Psalm 23 becomes a "beautiful murderess" asking, "Who is the victim? That is so hard to say/Male or female, mineral or vegetable" as she draws "a hot bath/in the presence of her [my] enemies." Indeed, the HOTEL is a "break and enter paradise" in which Loden, "rhapsodist of cunning," "songbird of iniquity," doing time among "plump/and ripening perfidies" and "masterful deaths," test markets "our epic innocence." Reader beware: The poems in HOTEL IMPERIUM will crawl under your skin as they speak their way to your heart.

I loved the poems in "Hotel Imperium", which manage to be topical, witty, passionate, tender, and elegiac-sometimes all within a few stanzas. Rachel Loden speaks to-or channels-Richard Nixon and (Little) Richard Penniman, Svetlana Stalin and Marilyn Monroe; I would call these poems political, but only in the sense that Auden meant when he wrote "There is no such thing as the State/And no one exists alone." As for the style, I hardly know what to call it except "bebop Augustan," if that's any help. Read the poems yourself.

This is a fun book to give to new homeowners.

It is a timeless gift to give a friend or yourself and your family

This is a perfect gift to give someone moving into a new home, or first home. It is beautifully illustrated on every page. The end papers are also decorated in a lovely, floral design. The blessings are simple and aptly stated.

I gave this book as a housewarming to my boyfriend, just after he moved in to his first house. It communicated all my hopes for his life in this house, and served as an expression of faith in the future of our relationship. I have since joined him in this home, and the book resides on the mantle. It provides a touchstone for us when we become distracted by various and sundry stresses.

We received this book from some dear friends upon the purchase of our very special home. The illustrations and the beautifully executed text are simply unbelievable. I make it a point to buy this book for anyone I know who has recently moved into a new home because it is an honor to own such a treasure.

This book starts with an essential visit to and discovery of Indo-European poetics. For one it does not take poetics in the Aristotelian meaning of the term that privileges dramatic texts, theater, performed poetics. The author defines the poet within a wider frame, that of the custodian and professional of language. He has to remember (at first, write and read later) all that is important for the community: its past, its important people, the laws, but also the medical knowledge, and the religious knowledge. As such the poet is at the very same time a priest, a poet, a doctor, ,a lawyer, a healer, a wizard, etc. He controls language in its abstract conceptualizing power and he performs pragmatic tasks that require knowing and reciting (to some type of music) texts. As such he is the custodian and preserver of the knowledge of the community. Thus he has a second power, that of developing that language, writing and reciting all kinds of texts to entertain the community, politically manage it, laud its leaders, etc. Watkins righteously insists on this essential point. As such poetry and religion merge together, the poet is the priest and vice versa. The author goes further and declares there is some original, specific and stable Indo-European pragmatics and poetics. All I-E poetry comes from the same melting pot or the same mould. And he insists on the fact some common formulas can be found. Here he works along two lines. One, etymology and the history of words, only words. Two, the formulas of words based on some words that semantically build a mainly semantic knot. He follows one such formula: HERO - SLAYS - DRAGON, that leads him to interesting remarks including the reversal of the killing. But he does not question the thematic functions behind the change. He satisfies himself with nominative and accusative. So he is kind of short. Short because it is not enough to say that the instrument can be stated as the nominative or the accusative of the verb. That shows the meaning he gives, SLEW, is an interpretation. It is difficult to say Peter SLEW the hammer, meaning the hammer was used by Peter to slay someone or something, even if we can easily conceive of the instrument slaying the victim. That fact questions the value of the verb. Is it SLAY or is it "IMPOSE a certain behavior to X within the frame of killing movements (?), vast arm movements (?)" In fact here he does not capture the dynamic meaning of the verb that initially meant some movement. In other words SLAY is not a simple verbs. It means many things according to the point of view. The agent, the patient, the instrument or whatever do not carry the same vision or value of the action. In more abstract terms a relation is dynamic (necessarily in I/E), expressing a change from one place to another, or from one state to another. The I/E word behind SLAY is typical of that dynamism. It definitely expresses the movement of the tool used to kill, and the change from one state to another for the victim: "AGENT causes VICTIM to shift from state A (ALIVE) to state B (DEAD)" versus "AGENT causes INSTRUMENT to move in a certain way (so that it may kill PATIENT)". The second thing that is deficient is that he centers his approach too much on the sole Indo-Iranian culture. He should have understood the Indo-European branch met with other cultures and there were many osmoses, exchanges, etc. I am absolutely sure that the proximity and rivalry of Indo-European peoples with Semitic peoples and particularly the Jews, produced some exchanges that Watkins does not even consider in the sole dimension of Christianizing Indo-European traditions. He speaks of Beowulf too little and neglects the superimposing of a Christian reading of Semitic origin (it is pure Semitic in origin?), and is it only Scandinavian or Indo-European, or is it already a mixture before it being Christianized? The question is open. Let's look for a solution.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

In addition to its use as a philology textbook (and it is great in this regard), the subject matter may be of great interest to people studying a more specialized aspect of the poetics-- namely the liturgical and magical traditions of the Indo-Europeans. In this area it is indispensible (along with the works of Dumezil, Polome, and others).

This isn't just a philology textbook-- it contains many keys for unlocking previously obscure areas of Indo-European studies relating to their magical and religious traditions.

This vast tome is a masterpiece of comparative Indo-European poetics. It investigates the nature, form and function of poetic expression and ancient literature among an impressive variety of Indio-European peoples. The author uses the traditional comparative method to identify the genetic intertextuality of particular themes and formulas common to all the daughter languages of ancient Indo-European. The work comprises seven sections and 59 chapters. The first chapters of part 1 explain the comparative method, concepts like synchrony and diachrony and pinpoints the various Indo-European cultures in terms of genre, space and time. The rest of part 1 considers the role of the spoken word in Indo-European society and its preservation across time.

In chapter 3: Poetics as Grammar, Watkins analyses the expression "Oats, peas, beans, and barley grow," demonstrating how the word order, alliteration and assonance form a perfect ring-composition. This formulaic utterance now functions only to amuse children, but in its essential semantics, formulaics and poetics it must have been continuously recreated on the same model over six or seven thousand years. He proves that is the central "merism" of an ancient Indo-European harvest song or agricultural prayer, by quoting from the Hittite, Homeric Greek, the Atharvaveda and the Zend-Avesta!

Selected text analyses an case studies from Anatolian, Celtic, Greek, Indic and Italic are found in chapters 7 - 11 of part 2, followed by the analyses of inherited phrasal formulas, stylistic figures and hidden meaning through chapters 12 to 16.

The remainder of the book presents the evidence for a common Indo-European formula in the expression of the dragon - or serpent-slaying myth. Over thousands of years this formula occurs in the same linguistic form as it existed in the original mother tongue. This formula is the vehicle for the central theme of a proto-text that has endured for millennia, a precise and precious tool for typological and genetic investigation in the study of literature and literary theory. It is thus of immense value to literary historians, literary critics and philologists.

I found chapters 50 - 59 of particular interest, as it deals with the application of the formula to the medicine of incantation in a variety of Indo-European traditions, and includes a discussion of the poet as healer.

This work is an opus magnum, and it took me months to read it. Even so, I cannot claim to have grasped all the complexities of the fascinating text in which more than 30 familiar and obscure languages are quoted. I strongly recommend this masterpiece to those interested in ancient history, language and its structure, and to literary critics.

The book concludes with 27 pages of references, an index of names and subjects, an index of passages, and an index of words quoted from the various Indo-European languages.

I enjoyed this book although I am best termed a "lay person" and the book is (necessarily and appropriately) written in a technical style. Other reviewers have addressed the content and worth of the book. I will try to give an idea of its "readability" for the non-specialist.
I frequently found exact understanding somewhat difficult and did gloss a number of passages as just too difficult to be worth the return (to me) of greater effort. Also, at times it almost seemed as if the author was pulling together a series of journal articles and quite possibly the book could have been twenty to thirty percent shorter without much, if any, sacrifice of material. Despite this, I never felt like hurrying nor that my time was being wasted - I found a number of new and interesting ideas that are clearly understandable by an interested reader. Also, the author neither talks down to his audience nor tries to impress with difficult terminology. Furthermore, at several points I sensed the underlying enthusiasm and reverence the author feels toward his work and I occasionally caught the sense of "beauty" as several threads came together.

FINALLY, a thorough understanding of the roots of the poetic material that we all learned when taking the classics. A thorough exploration of both epic and lyric poetic methods and the methods behind them that are used to this day.

The first dozen chapters or so read a bit like a bibliography, making frequent references to other authors (both contemporary and otherwise) and to things that are addressed quite a bit later in the book. This does not make the work so easily readable, but when dealing with comparative Indo-European poetics, one cannot expect a light-summer read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this work. I found that Dr. Watkins' ability to find common roots for everything from the Odyssey to childhood rhymes that we all learned to be both engaging and informative. I gained not only a deeper appreciation for the Classical and Homeric Greek, Avestan and Sanskrit literature that I have enjoyed since my days as s student, but also for everyday language.

If you are interested in any sort of Proto Indo-European studies, this is a must-read.

My 2 year old loves this book!!! I get to read it at least twice a day. We both like that it can be sung or read.

I recently found this book at the library along with Iza Trapani's books. A-Hunting We Will Go! has a better flow than the other books and makes it easier to read in a hurry. My 2 yr old likes to turn pages fast, but this is easy to memorize, and easy for her to read along with me. I recomend it for anyone who has to put a child to bed (which would be most parents). Definitely 5 star quality!

This is my 4-year-old's favorite book. He's heard it so many times, he can repeat the entire story verbatim (in prose and in song form). The words are very large - useful for this beginning reading - and the rhyming form is easy for him to master. The illustrations are wonderful and the story is a lot of fun. Great book!

The moose character is a totally new addition for Mr. Kellogg's repertoire, and he is quite the funny looking fellow.

A sure tonic for any parent or grandparent that reads to their children or grandchildren. As entertaining for adults to read as for the young ones it is created for. His illustrations are charming & funny. A real treat! I highly recommend this author/illustrator. If you like this book, look for any of the Pinkerton series, a "sell out" at all the public libraries.

My three year old grandaughter loved this book. She refers to it all the time. "I'm the boss and I say floss!" The Llamas in their pajamas were so cute, and it is a real imagination pleaser. Great illustrations! Fun book!