Poetry Books

The Arkangel Shakespeare is one of the best investments I've ever made. Both the dramatic and technical quality of the recordings are excellent. Buy the collection yourself and discover why listening to Shakespeare is so much more rewarding than merely reading Shakespeare.

It's great to listen to each of these cds with lots of well-known artists. I have now listened to 36 and loved each. If you're a Shakespeare fan, this is a must!

I can't say enough about this collection. This is an absolutely astounding collection of all of Shakespeare's play, uncut and unabridged, performed by some of England's most talented actors an actresses, as some of the other descriptions and reviews speak of.

What I have found invaluably rewarding as a Shakespeare devotee and as a actor is to follow along to Shakespeare's text while listening to these incredible recordings. I did this for a Shakespeare course in college. We'd be assigned a play to read within a week, and within 2 hours, I'd have it all read, while hearing it performed on these amazing recordings. To hear Shakespeare's words spoken as they would have been originally heard nearly 400 years allows for a greater understanding of the composition and the rhythm of the dialogue and verse. It simply does not get any better than this.

I'd highly recommend this collection. The producers of the Arkangel Shakespeare have obviously taken great care in preserving the text of the play and by employing the best of classically trained actors, the greatest works of English literature, filled with characters and words will blossom in your mind's eye. I cannot imagine any library being complete without this collection, and it is nothing short of a delight to have for your own personal library.

Do not hesitate to consider purchasing this collection for your public or collegiate library, or for yourself. It is a hallmark in the canon of comtemporary presentations of Shakespeare's complete works.

This was my Christmas present this year, and I can't stop looking at it. It's almost overwhelming to decide which play to grab and listen to in the car on my drive to work. These are wonderful productions with clear, crisp sound and excellent actors. The classical training is obvious, and many will recognize the names of actors, espcially fans of BBC television. Ciaran Hinds as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra is wonderful. He's also in The Winter's Tale. For any fan of Shakespeare this is a terrific investment. For teachers of British literature it is also a wonderful classroom resource.

This is a gorgeous production that is indeed a treasure. I listen with a Creative Zen Vision player and every word is delicious. I have enjoyed the first seven plays, thru Hamlet, and every nuance, every word, every inflection, pause, sound, background music theme and all the audio panorama makes every minute an absolute delight. I am now in a quandary about whether to continue listening thru the series or begin again to search among the endless audio treasures for gems I might have missed. This Arkangle series is a gift from the gods and worth many times its price. This kind of talent, dedication and flawless performance beggars description.

I loved this poem and laughed...enjoyed...and re-read it. Just a fun tale and the illustrations are really quite vivid and enlightening adding a quality to the storyline.

I saw this book in my son's school library and bought it through Amazon the very same day. A great rhyming story to read aloud. My son and I both enjoy reading this book. Highly recommended!

I recently saw this poem recited in a vaudeville show in the Yukon. A couple of days later when I saw the book I just had to buy it. Although the story is morbid, I think the sound of the words and the colorful pictures will appeal to my 10-month old grandson (if he's allowed to hear it read). Great book!

This was one of my favorite books as a kid. My dad used to read it as a bedtime story. The pictures in this version are not as big as those in the original which was a little dissapointing. Otherwise the book is exactly as I remembered it.

I recently saw this poem used effectively with a sixth grade Social Studies class studying the Yukon Gold Rush. The poem with it's morbid/supernatural theme is intriguing to kids in the middle school years and the colorful yet somewhat archaic and ambiguous language led to a great beginning Socratic Seminar. This type of "picture book" should be used more often with older students and as another reviewer mentioned this poem would make a great extension to a literature unit on narrative poems or as a supplemental reading to a classic novel like Jack London's CALL OF THE WILD. And though I had never heard this poem before someone recently told me it is a classic to tell around the campfire especially when camping in the snow.

I had to read this book for a freshman lit course and I must say, it was such a wonderful read that it never felt like work. I'd buy another copy in a heartbeat if mine was lost. Excellent work!

A great job done by the authors for a multimedia piece that reflects America's melting pot story. The people are real and the work itself should inspire immigrants and descendants of immigrants to share the experience. I found the CD fascinating as a work to be enjoyed with the book. A wonderful job! I look for more work by the authors.

The book is well done except the authors failed to include the ethnicity that was and continues to be among the largest immigrant group, the Irish. The authors dropped the ball on that one.

If there was ever a time when we needed to be reminded that immigrants are the heart and soul of what makes this a textured, rich and interesting country, this is it. This book and its companion museum exhibit, which I was lucky enough to come upon serendipitously at Purchase College's Neuberger Museum, celebrates the gifts we have received as a nation from the diverse people who have struggled first to get here, and then to make a life for themselves here. Before we build walls on borders, before we villify those who are different from us, let's appreciate what we are gaining from the immigrants who choose the US as their home. Let's remember that very few of us are Native American. We have all benefitted from the open door to America.

Book is an excellent companion to a travelling show we saw at the University of Maine in Orono. It captures in an extraordinary fashion the incredible ethnic and cultural diversity within a relatively small section of Queens, NY.

The twenty seven linked poems of Dark Card, winner of the 2007 Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook award, turn on the poet's experience of raising her son, born with Asperger's syndrome. The narrative arc travels from grief and white-hot anger, to Foust's difficulty in accepting all aspects of her child's disability, opening finally onto transformative acceptance-- a state of grace, perhaps. The resonance of recurring themes and images help mould this collection into an almost novelistic whole.

Foust shows us her gifted, afflicted child as he is. We learn about the syndrome's manifestations, the child's neurological deficits, the wrong-headed practices of institutions responsible for him. When, in the title poem, the boy creates a scene at school, we are shown the coping mechanisms of his mother, as well: she plays the "dark card of the idiot savant ... /...It's my ploy to exorcise their pitchforks and torches/... But it's a swindle, a flimflam, a lie/ a not-celebration of what he sees/with his inward-turned eye:/the patterns in everything---"
The poet's emotions overflow the page. She rages against the possible sources of her son's syndrome. Like a tongue to a tooth, the author worries "...that Gordian- knot neck-throttled curse, /that gene-encrypted, linked-chain curse,//that DES-taken-by-his grandmother curse,/that fumble-fingered-fool-doctor-shaped curse..." . She spits out her indictments in diatribes worthy of the name. Her anger hits its target in "Palace Eunuch":

Don't say you were trying to be kind,
you ball-less prick soft dick eunuch
cowardly coin-counting conservator.
You were practically pissing yourself
in your fear of malpractice,
you were shaking in your green paper booties.

These poems show the many ways in which the quality of life argument is entirely subjective. We see how the boy's behaviors set him apart and make him singular, but we get a rounder view here than in disability poetry purely from the patient's POV (The Hospital Poems by Jim Ferris comes to mind). In one of the best poems, "Asperger Ecstasy," Foust observes the activities that make her son "vibrate with joy." "It can be tying flies under a microscope, knot patterns / the size of this period. It can be cataloging washing / machine brands or the note variations in a symphony, / or committing to memory for joyous recounting / the entire year's schedule for the El-train." As she makes peace with his differences, she begins to celebrate them: "He makes/ meaning from acorns,/ the sky,/knotted bits/ of string." (The Visitation) We watch her empathy swell. She makes us believe her when she says that her son "loves who he is."

Foust's use of poetic devices is as expert as her emotional spectrum is varied. Her line breaks reveal meaning in fresh ways, and her use of sound is a mark of her craft---the sustained vowels throughout "Instrument," the single word lines in the final strophe of "Firstborn," echoing the child's first thin breath; the compound words that heighten the passion in her teeth-gnashing rants. There are allusions to Emily Dickinson's feathered hope and Temple Grandin's empathy, and Foust raises the hair on the reader's arm when she says about her baby, "You freeze my heart to stone/when I measure your foot with my thumb."(No Longer Medusa).

The author reconciles the grim with the hopeful in Dark Card, and her voice never wavers in its fierce emotional honesty. And when, in the extraordinary final poem, the recurring image of her son's Gordian knot "unravels with his years, unwinds, unfolds,/lets loop out in vast uncoiling spirals/whole archives of text,/found worlds," we are moved. The poet has succeeded in making the personal universal. We close the covers, uplifted by Rebecca Foust's courage and her compassionate song.

Life as art ... there is a special gift in the ability to share one's life as art, to issue a challenge to each beholder, to trigger a deeper reaching within and without, to one's coming away changed. The amazingly insightful cover and the signpost of a title dare us to pass through this doorway, to accept the challenge to go beyond and experience what these travelers before us offer to share. Will any two come away with the same experience? I don't think so. For me this journey was worth the beauty, love, and mystery revealed along side the pain of Dark Card. Without the presence of light, we would not even see this silhouette. I am thankful that there are artists and poets who can transcend the dark to share their lives by shining light.

In Dark Card, Rebecca Foust gives the reader a lesson in courage -- the courage of a mother raising a child with a disability, the courage to face the reality this forces upon her, the courage to probe the feelings deep within, and the courage to put those feelings into unforgettable words. This is the open heart of a mother, with all the pain and joy exposed. Read it with respect. It will move you.

Raw and beautiful, this collection captures the complexities of motherhood in a way few writers ever have. There isn't a mother alive who -- if she is honest -- won't recognize herself on these pages. The cover art, with its dark haunting outline, makes clear that the child inside this book is not just Foust's. He belongs to all of us.

I read Dark Card on my vacation. I reacted most deeply to Perfect Target, Sweet Heart, Begin Again - all three made me pause and just feel sick about how cruel people can be to each other and the impacts of seemingly small events on a precious life. It makes me wonder how easily we as individuals and a culture are afraid of vulnerability and the need for eliminating the weak to make ourselves feel strong rather than embracing them. These three poems are marked with tears. There were a few others that really hit me in the gut for how much the emotional content of the poem became my own: Apologies to My OB-GYN, No Longer Medusa, Unreachable Child, He Never Lies, Eighteen (he made it!), Refrigorator Mom. These poems are marked with a check to reread. Thank you for sharing yourself and your son's journey through poetry.

Diary of My Heart was given to me by a friend for Christmas. I have been going through a hard time and this was an unexpected gift because the book has not been advertised, but was much better than I expected. The author obviously has suffered through a painful life and shared her feelings with great passion and straight to the point. I plan on sending this as gifts to other friends of mine and highly recommend it. It is a big surprise in a small unsuspecting package. A must read for anyone.

This book is real! The fact that I could relate to this book kept me reading. Told in a style that puts you in the head or heart of someone in pain. It was almost painful at times the feelings of a soul and heart torn apart by bad relationships/loss and more. Diary of My Heart was a wonderful book that I was glad I bought and added to my book collection.

The title of this book Diary of My Heart says it all. I felt as if I'd picked up a diary of someone in great pain. It was impossible not to feel for the author with things like this

"When did I lose who I wanted to be,
Everything in the world seemed so possible to me.
Closing my eyes I could see the world stretched open just waiting for me, All those dreams seemed possible to me"

I could relate to her feelings of loss and disappointment in decisions she'd made that sacrified part of who she was. It was easy to understand where she was coming from.
This was obviously from her life and opened the door wide for us to read. It was as advertised and I liked it.

This was a small book, but a wonderful treat for my senses. This is a great first book for an author. The poems are easily understood and are thought provoking. Absolutely adored this book. Poetry should flow from the person's experiences and this one does that. Easy to pick this up and read it in one sitting!

I got this book at the urging of a friend. Let me just say I was skeptical. This book was worth it. From the beginning it opened up this woman's soul for all to see. It is heartwrenching and beautiful in the way each poem breaks free to allow pain to come forth. Never have I felt as if I were with the person when I was reading a piece of work such as this, but at times I felt as if I shouldn't be reading this it is too personal too honest. However, I am so happy I did because hope shines through brilliantly and in simple terms anyone could relate to. Eagerly I recommend this book to others and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

This is a compact anthology, but a wonderful collection that includes Li Po, Wu-Men, Rumi, Kabir, Mirabai, Rilke... One of my personal favorites

mitchell puts together an amazing compilation of sacred poetry in this book. i highly recommend reading the enlightened mind if you like this.

I also received this book many years ago from a friend and have given it to others as a gift many times. It is an exceptional collection. The sacred poems and excerpts come from all over the world and have given me new perspective and joy at many different ages and stages of life. God bless you Stephen Mitchell, for making these treasures known to us.

I bought this book after reading about it in my yoga magazine thinking I could really use a good book of poems to ponder and this book is terrific. The poems really will quiet your mind. I love that such a wide array of authors are represented - from Rumi to Dogen to Emily Dickenson to Walt Whitman. A great collection. Glad I bought it.

The title itself speaks for this tender and uplifting collection of "spiritual" poetry. Mitchell's translation of some of the psalms have a particular clarity for me, and the eclectic mixture of ancient and modern, long and short poems are meditation material that renews me. This is a gift to share with seekers and finders.

Julie Williams has written an exceptional first novel. This insightful story in poems takes the reader on a journey in a young girl's life as she experiences the heartache of loss, struggles to understand those around her, discovers first love, and the boundries of friendship, and through it all learns how to become her own person. Allie Benton is a hero we can all cheer on!

A wonderful book, although I wouldn't call it poetry; more like a diary. I met the author and she is a wonderfully funny person. The story is one that holds your attention. Read it all in one sitting. Couldn't put it down. Even my husband likes it and he doesn't do much reading for pleasure.

I am a 55 year old male man who didn't want to read "a story in poem" about anything. I was given this book and resisted reading it for a very long time. One night I started reading and I could not put it down. It was powerful and moving. It's about a 14 year old girl learning to live in this life. It's a poem. I cried like a baby! I am currently buying up every copy I can. I give this book to anyone I care about.

If you, or maybe your very close friend, had a difficult childhood. This book is for you. Poem and all! Poem just means all the unneeded words are missing. Read this book! (...)

My daughter and I each have a copy of this book and had the same experience reading it: we couldn't put it down. My daughter said that she carried such an ache around in her heart for this young girl. She said she felt as if she truly knew her and loved her. This is a powerful story told in the spare, searing language of penetrating poetry. As a teacher, I have been pondering ways I might bring this book into my classroom. It cries out to be heard as well as read. I have already recommended it to my colleagues.

I enjoyed this book immensely, as did (all!) the members of my book club. The descriptions are lovely, the characters real, the story poignant, the end satisfying.

In spare language, the author shows us through a heartwarming main character what it is like to lose a twin and a father. I felt her anguish about having an unstable mother, and going to a new school without the right clothes to fit in. I felt the heartbreak of her Native American friends who, in the sixties when the novel is set, are scorned by most of the townspeople. It's awesome how much insight and information was conveyed, and how much I was made to care, in such a short book.

Diane Lockward's EVE's RED DRESS cleverly takes the many lives of Eve and brings her into a contemporary present of messy complications and unexpected delights. While "Eve Argues Against Perfection" and enjoys her "Vegetable Love" as it "turned to mush" and "grew mold and began to stink" we are initiated into "Eve's Own Garden" in which the secret (among many) is that this garden is as much a feast of dirt ("I have feasted/on dirt. A garden grows inside me...) as it is the "sweetbriers/so wild and profuse they bleed/over the fence, blood-red, scarlet, crimson./" that this garden dirt has seeded. There is an exuberance in the color and taste of words throughout this collection that renders even the unsettling moments, such as Eve being left by a lover who "goes back/to his wife", with portions of savvy (and saucy) poetry that generously satiates the reader. Even if Eve is in the midst of packing up her lingerie and pointing "the car west on Route 66 toward Paradise,//Nevada" she is enjoying her trip. Driving in the desert where she doesn't know where she is and beginning to panic, she lands us at "Tables for ladies/" where "a babe in a red satin dress/ and a biker chick in black leather" are part of the clientele, where she reminds us, with the waitress at the Diner, that "Honey, you're on your way to paradise,/home of the serpent." And indeed that home, and that serpent, prove a lot more intriguing and satisfying than anything we learned in Bible class. Here, we're offered "a cup/of coffee and a piece of apple pie?" Here "The Flavor of Sadness" is the strawberry that's "so darn delicious" someone "decided to preserve it". Here we learn new "Feeding Habits" and how to "savor the succulent flesh".

These poems offer us glimpses into the twin worlds of myth and reality. Here we are always in the process of discovering. Here "truths" can be beautiful and dangerous. Consider some of these poems: "Eve's Confession," "The Blues Going and Coming," "The Mystery of the Missing Girl, and "The Properties of Light." If you have been looking for a talented, surprising and compassionate poetic voice, buy this book.

I recently discovered this poet in the new Poetry Daily anthology. I bought her book and immediately became a card-carrying member of her fan club. The poems are terrific--full of energy, humor, and feeling. Then the poet came to my town to do a reading. I was captivated by her reading style. And she read some of my favorites--"The Missing Wife" (funny and poignant), "Losing the Blues" (so musical it makes you want to get up and sway), "Pastiche for a Daughter's Absence" (beautiful love poem for a daughter), and "My Husband Discovers Poetry" (an amazing revenge poem). I hope to run into this poet again. Eve's Red Dress is an outstanding collection.

I bought this book right after I heard Garrison Keillor read "My Husband Discovers Poetry" on The Writer's Almanac. I immediately loved that poem which turned out to be the last one in the collection. All too often when I buy a book on the basis of one poem I end up being disappointed. But not this time. The entire collection lives up to the promise of that poem. Again and again, Lockward made me laugh and cry, often at the same time. Her poems of love and desire are among the best I've read. But her subjects also include dancing, eating, gardening, clothing, and more. Lockward takes us through a wide range of moods. She is not afraid to face darkness, but she also knows how to have a good time. She displays an impressive verbal dexterity and creates stunning imagery. She clearly knows and practices her craft. In the end, I found this collection a complete pleasure.

If you can get only one poetry book this year, make this the one. If you're looking for poetry that's original, inventive, well-crafted, and multi-layered, this is it. Lockward has sass, courage, and wit. Her Eve has many faces; she is Everywoman, yet totally unique. And don't make the mistake of thinking the collection will be burdened by religious allusions; there's more blasphemy than doctrine here. This is a collection about a modern woman's world, but it is definitely not for women only; men are welcomed into this world and are much in demand. This is a collection for anyone who enjoys intelligent and passionate poetry that surprises with each rereading.

This book is beautifully illustrated with classic nursery rhymes from your childhood. It brings back memories for me.

Most of the included nursery rhymes are ones you will remember and enjoy sharing with your children. Don't get all hung up on what a violent world we live in and think that these are bad morals to teach your children, as one other reviewer of nursery rhyme books went into a diatribe about. The sooner your children realize that everyone is not equal and everyone is not a winner, the better off they will be in adulthood. The P.C. movement in the USA is out of control -- there really are winners and losers in life -- so, motivate your children to be winners through hard work, skill and talent! Don't teach them to expect a trophy and pat-on-the-back telling them how wonderful they are when the reality is something quite different. It's time to get back to basics in this country because the coddling of our children over the past 20 years certainly hasn't produced good results (look around and stop blaming nursery rhymes and video games for YOUR POOR PARENTING).

The morals in this book won't hurt anyone and they certainly didn't turn me into a serial killer. So, enjoy this beautiful book with your children -- I know I am!

This book is the perfect gift for a baby especially if they have an
older sibling that can read to them. Everyone should have the chance
to enjoy the beautiful pictures and rhymes
while holding a precious baby.

Nursery ryhmes are so important to learn as a child. As an adult, I know most of them and wanted to teach them to my children. I researched the perfect book that included all the rhymes I remembered. This book was it!! It had all the classic nursery ryhmes I remembered and more! And you will love the illustrations...beautiful! My son (age 4) remembers each picture and will talk about it. You will find so much detail in each illustration that will add to the nursery ryhme even more. I highly recommend this book!

We loved the book, Got it for a new grandson and the
pictures were gorgeous and well constructed binding.
Can not say enough good things about it. It had all
of the old favorites we read to our children when they
were small. Buy it.

This is truly the most incredible Mother Goose book that I have ever seen an I'm a children's librarian!!!!

I'm a 62 year old widower who heard Scott Simon interview Calef Brown on NPR. I bought it on a whim and it is everything they said it was....funny, catchy and edgy. Buy it for your grandchildren but keep it at your house to read OUT LOUD when you are taking life too seriously.

I got this book to read to my five-year-old and she never tires of it, but I think people of all ages will love Flamingos on the Roof. It can be read in small chunks or all the way through. I can't wait to see more work from this author/illustrator. The language is a bit intricate, so if you're buying this for a child to read on their own, I'd say the book is on a third- or fourth-grade reading level.

I heard these poems read over NPR one Saturday morning and enjoyed listening to them so much that I decided to buy three sets for each of my grandchildren. Just delightful to listen to and I hope it will encourage them to read and write more poetry!

I first heard of this book on NPR-"Saturday Edition", and had to buy for my personal library. It's intended for 4th graders, but I've gotten it for my adult friends-for their own pleasure and to read to young visitors.
It's beautifully composed, uplifting and lyrical. Calef Brown is gifted.

We love rhyming stories, and Flamingos on the Roof is no exception. I read a great review about Calef Brown in Wondertime magazine and was not disappointed. Whereas Shel Silverstein is a bit gruesome and crude, Brown's poetry is simple yet creative, fun and silly, and all around great reading with your little one. My 18 mo old loves the iambic pentameter rhythm of the rhyming, and the illustrations are wacky and fun (think Rev Howard Finster naive art). I would love to see him create a longer story someday, as the short poems go by too fast. I'd recommend his books for all ages, little ones and adults.