Poets Books

Jordan is a chameleon in her ability to express an array of emotions on paper so completely. Her poems wield emotional rescue to the stoic and tender heart alike. A must-read!

When I first began reading this book, I considered the imagery and thought, "Wow, who is this woman?" I read on and thought, "Oh, she's my sister." And still on. Then, "Oh, she's my reflection. She is me."

These are the passionate poems of a woman on fire, breathlessly telling her story. "I'm losing parts of me daily,/like the sparkle of the eye,/my hunger for hyperbole, and a slow/dance on stilts, oh I've changed/since you cut down my trees" she begins, in the first poem, and goes on to "When they come for me/I'll be ready, I'll be lighting green candles in the folds/of the red and white tents on the streets of Venice/where at night the dampness chills the teeth . . . and I am the bonfires on/corners of Calle Racchetta. I am a woman ready.//I am burning. Let them come." Most poems here are deeply personal without being "poems of mere self." This is the voice of a woman who has lived deeply, loved and suffered, and is in love with life and the world's sensual detail. There's humor here too, and harsh touches of reality. I'd cut several poems here, leaving only the best. Those are a feast of vitality and imagistic language.

This book brings to light lifes beauty and sparkles with energy! A beautiful poet indeed!

When I found out Maggie had a book out, I could hardly wait to get my hands on a copy. For more than a year, I'd been reading her work on an online forum, and had always been impressed with the way she weaves her words. This collection is an excellent addition to my bookshelf, although I have no doubt that I'll take it down and read it again and again. Maggie's poems are easy for anyone to understand, but there are subtle nuances within them which require digestion and a lingering eye. One of the poems in this book which I'd not read before made me cry (well, a few of them did) -- "Lost Father," "Playground," and "But in my Dreams I Dance the Tango" touch the deeper side of humanity which so many are afraid to explore. There are flowers here, also; I was impressed by how Ms. Huscroft's descriptions of scents and shifting light patterns flow from the pages, pulling me into the Cornish countryside. If you are a poet, or like poetry, you must have this book.

This collection would have taken a lifetime to write. If you read or aspire to write poetry, you should have this collection on your shelf. It is a picture in words of a life and of an artist which will filter on down the stream, lodging where it will. doing the poet's unknown and unknowable work of eddies and dark currents.

I have been reading Maggie's work for the better part of a year now, and I am thrilled to own a copy of her first book. I have found her poetry to be substantive and satisfying. She covers many topics with a unique eye for description that invariably transports the reader into her world; a world that can be funny, sad, full of wonderment, or bitingly harsh. Her writing is never forced nor formulaic. It is fresh and revealing. What makes Smoke & Mirrors even more special is that she designed it from cover to cover. Now every time I pick up her book to read, I feel as if I am holding a bit of Maggie in my hands. Love ya Maggie. Jeff

So glad you made it past my goofy title to this.

Maggie Huscroft simply is an outstanding poet. She combines just the correct amount of form and refinement with humour and a razor sharp wit. She never fails to deliver creative, unique poetry. I am extremely excited about this book, it is required reading for any poetry collection.

A friend of mine turned me on to Kelly and I am happy she did. This stuff is so vivid, so colorful and full of haunting images. True delight.

Senuous; This book is composed of the stretchings of this woman's life. I had the opportunity to hear her read and I will never feel the same way about age or sex or truth again.

Compare this to what? Chagall dreaming at dusk near a pasture? . . . Kelly's poems paint their way into your mind through your eyes, in short, brush-saturated strokes of paint. Her short lines, full of amazing enjambments, lull you out of adulthood. But it's not all pleasant. There's a lot to be afraid of. But there's so much beauty (in all that mystery) after you catch your breath. Kelly's poem-paintings are dripping with nightmares and dreamlight.

Brigit Kelly's title poem is, truly, the best poem I have ever read. It is so filled with suffering and sweetness, interwoven, I could hardly stand it; it blew my mind. The entire book is wonderful. Kelly's poems radiate intelligence and bare-bones honesty. She dives into the pain and truth and loveliness of life and takes you along with her, but even with all the intensity in her writing, she leaves you feeling somehow safe in the world. If you can find her first book somewhere (it's out of print) find it, too. It also cuts to the quick. Please, Brigit, give us another book!

Although very popular in its day; Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha" was later viewed to be superficial and saccharine. Where as Walt Whitman may have spoken with more of an organic American voice, Longfellow drew upon English Romantic models and looked to Norse and especially the Finnish epic or "edda" "Kalevala" for inspiration.

Not with standing; Longfellow's saga is pure New England Renaissance; touching upon values and aesthetics characteristic of Longfellow's circle: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Emerson and Thoreau.

The nature-painting of the "Song of Hiawatha" is outstanding; the poetry is full of quotables; and the over-arching message is profound.

A book for generations. Mine was published 1898 and given me by my mother whose father(b.1875) gave it to her. It goes to the heart of the Indian race, a people susceptible to mythology and magic as their last great hope. Read it with an open mind, imagination, and for its beauty.

"The Song of Hiawatha" is the best book I have ever been exposed to. Every time I hear the wonderful rhyme of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, I begin to think of what this land was like before the Europeans conquered it. It is a wonderful tale of peace between nations and a great book to read to children.

An undying tale.. legend... song... Wonderful poetry, the language is simply astounding! I have read the russian translation by Bounin, which was as remarkable as the original.

Ted Berrigan's "The Sonnets" ultimately deals with the complexities of intimately placing seemingly disparate Things--objects from different times and climes--into one singular plane. His ars poetica deals with the deep implications of the poet's decisions. "Whatever is going to happen is already happening," Berrigan writes in Sonnet L.

This line reverberates in my ears and reminds me of these lines, written by my friend Joseph Griffin, and was published in Spring 2004 in "SCRY! A Nexus Of Politics & The Arts," a journal I edited during my undergraduate days:

everything that has ever happened
is still happening
and has always BEEN happening

and everything that will possibly happen
is happening now
and WAS happening millennia ago
--"Continuum"

As Alice Notley shrewdly points out in her introduction, another way to read Berrigan's line in Sonnet L (and Griffin 's succinct two stanzas), is: "If you aren't doing it now you won't ever do it." Which is to say, How will you make use of your Allotted Time?

Berrigan chooses to keep time ("It is 5:15 a.m. Dear Chris, hello.") and conjures his own brand of "rough magic" for the record, for posterity.

Although many critics and readers have crowned contemporaries John Ashbery or Frank O'Hara the champions of abstract expressionism in poetry, Berrigan's work is often dismissed because on the surface it is overtly stylistic. And while Ashbery speaks in riddles, Berrigan seems to know the worlds that surrounds each phrase and it's arrangement, (or lack thereof). his sonnets are an essential read for anyone interested in the richness, abandonment, and just plain wackiness that can be brought to life through language or even sounds.

This legendary book of New York school poetry finally appears complete. In previous editions there were mysteriously missing poems. Alice Notley, who was married to Berrigan, provides an illuminating introduction.

Although many critics and readers have crowned contemporaries John Ashbery or Frank O'Hara the champions of abstract expressionism in poetry, Berrigan's work is often dismissed because on the surface it is overtly stylistic. And while Ashbery speaks in riddles, Berrigan seems to know the worlds that surrounds each phrase and it's arrangement, (or lack thereof). his sonnets are an essential read for anyone interested in the richness, abandonment, and just plain wackiness that can be brought to life through language or even sounds.

I read this poems when I was about 16- 17 years old. Now in a age of 50 I still adore them. And I have performed them a lot of times. They are just lovely.

This is a wonderful collection of poetry by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, telling the story of her meeting Robert Browning and how she discovered her love for him, and his love for her. The introduction to this volume is especially helpful, in that it gives a brief summary of her life before she met and Browning, so that one can follow the narrative fairly easily. Some of the references in the poems are a bit obscure, so it would have been nice if there were notes accompyaning them, but on the whole this is a very nice introduction to a talented poet.

The book brings together the best of Elizabeth barret Browning. It is a wonderful, emotional book. I enjoy poetry, especially good kind. this is it.

My ex girlfriend, Ashleigh, gave this to me years ago, before she was forced by her family to marry this guy named Tyler. Long story but she sent this book to me and signed the inside.

Next to Shakespeare, this is the most bittersweet and poetic
poems of love that I have ever read.

It was said that a husband and wife team wrote these so one can only imagine how passionate their marriage was, huh?

You can spend your entire life immersed in contemporary poetry and never come close to experiencing the literary genius displayed in Mr. Scafidi's exceptional first book. Put the very best of Russell Edson, Judy Jordan, and a sprinkle of Faulkner in a cuisinart and you'll have a mere taste of Mr. Scafidi's talent. If you buy one book this decade, poetry or not, make it Sparks from a Nine Pound Hammer.

You can spend your entire life immersed in contemporary poetry and never come close to experiencing the literary genius displayed in Mr. Scafidi's exceptional first book. Put the very best of Russell Edson, Judy Jordan, and a sprinkle of Faulkner in a cuisinart and you'll have a mere taste of Mr. Scafidi's talent. If you buy one book this decade, poetry or not, make it Sparks from a Nine Pound Hammer.

"Sparks from a Nine-Pound Hammer," Steve Scafidi's first book of poems, reads almost like a collaboration between William Faulkner and W.H. Auden. Like Faulkner, Scafidi feels the ponderous weight of Southern history pressing on his shoulders; contrasting the 1916 burning of Jesse Washington with the 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr., Scafidi says, "Most white American men are the same color they were then." But, like Auden, he is able to pass from the odium of history to take joy in the physical world. Scafidi's funny and exquisite "Latitudes of Desire" riffs brilliantly on the sight of his wife wearing only her blue panties, taking the reader on a mock-epic journey across oceans and continents in a celebration of romantic and erotic love. Scafidi's language is labyrinthine and sensuous, a lava flow of words engulfing and preserving for all time every sight and thought in its path. Here is a young poet who writes with the delicacy and assurance of a master; I look forward to seeing what he gives us next.

Sparks of a Nine-Pound Hammer marks the arrival of a major American voice of a new generatation. In this stunning first collection, Steve Scafidi confirms that poetry still upholds the power to transform the psyche of our collective past. This daring poet does not hold back from truthfully expressing the unfortunate presence of racism in the South. Yet, Mr. Scafidi maintains the facility to celebrate the shock of dreams with grace. Take a deep breath when reading Sparks of a Nine-Pound Hammer because the poetry will, like the photo of the poet suggests, kick your behind.

Blew my mind and stirred my heart and guts. Very intimate and graphic, a book to share only with the people I love most.
Anne-Magali

I must say that as an artistic soul myself, I am usually not very impressed with modern poetry as it has fit itself into mainstream as much as leg warmers and over-permed hair in the 80's. However, Jeffrey McDaniel's "Splinter Factory" is one of the most inventive, passionate, real, and darkly ironic collection of poems i think that I have ever read. In addition to reading his work, he made a guest appearance at an open mic I had attented. If you have ever felt the rush of emotions that flows out of you when you read a piece that touches close to home, then you have experienced only a fraction of what hearing Jeffrey McDaniel read his works is like. If you enjoy !~REAL~! artistic taste and ingenuity, then "Splinter Factory" is a must read.

This is a wild collection of honest and surprising poems. McDaniel is a master of the couplet and has these metaphors that just POP off the page. Great for a seasoned poet or one who is new to the game.

I stumbled upon this book very randomly in a bookstore. And cheap me, I kept going back to the bookstore to read the poems. I finally bought the book because I did not get tired of reading the poems. I typically don't read much poetry because I find most of it to be awful, but these poems are like little gifts. They are emotional confessions that walked me straight to the point. This book is NOT boring.

This is such a timely book for me because I was watching one of the plethora of decorating shows on tv one slow day, while cleaning and kept asking myself why so many homes by decorators have items that have no personal or deeply held memories for the people they are decorating for.

Its as if in this materialistic world we Americans live in, we see homes with 'filler' stuff. Stuff which is meant to make the place look special like in a magazine.

Thus I stood back and savored the pieces we have in our home and reminded myself of what Sister Wendy's works on art and artists had reminded me, which was to be still and realllllly look at a piece if art. Ponder the person who created it. Look at that painting and see the hidden treasures within it.

A book to love.

This was a well written book. Very moving! Makes you stand back, and take another look at still life.

Mark Doty begins this book by describing a 350 year old Dutch painting "Still Life with Oysters and Lemon" that he has fallen in love with at the Metropolitan Museum. He then meanders to memories of his "Mamaw" from long ago in East Tennessee-- surely only Southerners call grandparents by that name-- to a poem by Cavafy, to buying an old Italianate Victorian House in Vermont with his partner who later died of AIDS. Along the way, Mr. Doty muses on the subject of balance: the desire to be in a relationship and the need to be free, the balance of order versus clutter, of staying rooted in one place and the need to travel-- and the joy of collecting simple, everyday imperfect things picked up in flea markets rather than perfect expensive objects.

There are so many good things to say about this little 70 page gem that one hardly knows where to begin. Too often I read a work of nonfiction and wish it had remained a short magazine article. That is not so with this book. I wanted it to go on and on. Whether or not the author is correct in his analysis of still life painting, he is completely convincing. Of course, his language is always both concise and beautiful and never gets in the way of what he is saying. Near the end of the book Mr. Doty says "What makes a poem a poem, finally, is that it is unparaphrasable. . . I may try to explain it or represent it in other terms, but then some element of its life will always be missing. It is the same with painting." Such a statement perfectly describes this little masterpiece.

Mark Doty has done the impossible. In STILL LIFE WITH OYSTERS AND LEMON he has not only written an extended essay (read epic poem) about his encounter with a simple Dutch Still Life painting, but he has also produced what must become the definitive map for looking, seeing, studying and describing the essence of art in a way that encourages us all to return to the pursuit of beauty. Doty has proved his credentials in art hisory and art technique so that he is able to find the essence of a still life, rhapsodize on the quality of light as captured by an everyday object that makes a centuries old painting seem immediate to our own home, and in doing so reveals his own history of memories, lovers, favorite objects, the passage of time as participants in the transitory moment we call life. So many art critics and art historians have attempted to find this plane of understanding and enlightment with only minimal degrees of success. As a curator and essayist about art I am humbled and in awe. Mark Doty is one of the finest poets in America today and knows his way with words, with phrases that illuminate his stances, with defining emotions inaudible to most of us. But this small book is more than an homage to a particular still life painting (though on that merit alone he wins the competition!). This is a tender, thoughtful journey toward discovering beauty that daily surrounds us, a call to accept the transitory nature in all things and to experience them while we may. No fatalism here, just a door opened to appreciate the cycle of being alive...which just happens to warmly include the aspect of dying as part of that totality. As in Still Life painting: artists have selflessly recreated moments precious to them, frozen them in time to stave off the finite, and in doing so have left us with miraculous images to incorporate into our psyches for perpetuating beauty. This book is a must for art students, for art lovers, and for everyone who yearns to understand the journey of the soul. As Doty informs us, paraphrasing poetry or a painting as focused as a still life is impossible; by nature the essence has been distilled. Writing a review of such a book is near impossible. Gift yourself with a book to which you will return as often as the author has returned to Still Life with Oysers and Lemon!

I am Dr. Marilyn Maye and I don't usually read poetry books; that's one reason why STRANGE LAND SONGS is so outstanding to me. I am particularly moved whenever I read, "I loved My Africa, loved unabated, My firstborn ..." because it affirms me in my belief in a Creator who launched life on Earth on the continent of Africa. In its songs, there is victory without rancor in the African-American experience, and I am empowered to sing, even in a strange land. Ms. Ladson's technical mastery of the sonnet form provides a counterpoint that adds both suspense and irony to already rich lyrics. My husband and I included two of her poems in our book,"Orita: Rites of Passage for Youth of African Descent in America," and featured them in the ceremony associated with an actual rite-of-passage celebration. Outside of the Scriptures, her psalter was the most appropriate literary representation we could find with both the content and spirit of our theme. This seven-inch by seven-inch hardbound book is an inspiring work that can go with you anywhere. Each poem could be placed in a separate frame and enliven a room with its hope-filled message. You'll not want to part with your copy, so BUY AT LEAST THREE!

May we see the 5-star review by Dr. Marilyn Maye?

I am, correctly, Irene Granderson, a senior artist & retired social worker. As a lover of poetry and posessing an abiding interest in the history of the African American people, I enjoyed the sonnets in "STRANGE LAND SONGS." I found them to be powerfully descriptive, spiritual and mystical. The work is arranged in two parts: The first section discusses the plight of a people torn from their native land and transplanted to a strange new land. The second segment describes women who, in spite of proscribed lives, emerge as strong beautiful people.
To add to the spiritual essence which permeates the work, a scriptural reference is provided on the opposite page of each poem. Ms. Ladson's spiritual and feminist beliefs are clearly demonstrated in the entire book. For example, in Song #44, the dual genger of God is discussed: "I am your Mother God in curl and braid, I am your Mother God in blouse and skirt, As much as I am Lord of war and trade, As much as I am Lord of beard and shirt." The accompanying scripture is taken from Job:21:4, where God is revealed as a male whose breasts are full of milk. The poetry is written with a delicate touch and has a tenderness that reaches the heart. One of my favorites is Song #21, which describes a romance of the people with their lost country, Africa: "You came before him braided, jeweled, beaded, Stood shy and quiet, by the elders flanked." In addition, there are six poems (Songs 29-35) which I call THE REMEMBERING SONNETS because they each begin with the word REMEMBER, and remind the people in abject circumstances about their history, their spiritual connection to their former land, and who they are.
Ms Ladson's concept of the Africa that was in the past is that of a bright fair place of tremendous resources. In Song #5, she indicates: "The earth nicknamed her dark, I called her sky, Because so many rivers were her length." And in Song #17, we read: "You are the Lord's song sounded first in grotto, Are prehistoric lyric at its best."
I conclude by saying that this book is really a jewel. After reading the Ladsonian sonnets, you will be able to see into the heart of one who aspires to share the beauty of her people.
(Senior Artist, Age 65+)

I don't usually read poetry books; that's one reason why Strange Land Songs is so outstanding to me. I am particularly moved whenever I read "I loved My Africa, loved unabated My firstborn,...", because it affirms me in my belief in a Creator who launched life on Earth on the continent of Africa. In its songs, there is victory without rancor in the African-American experience, and I am empowered to sing, even in a strange land.

Ms. Ladson's technical mastery of the sonnet form provides a counterpoint that adds both suspense and irony to already rich lyrics. My husband and I included two of her poems in our book, Orita: Rites of passage for youth of African descent in America, and featured them in the ceremony associated with an actual rites-of-passage celebration. Outside of the Scriptures, her psalter was the most appropriate literary representation we could find, with both the content and spirit of our theme.

This seven-inch by seven-inch, hardbound book is an inspiring work that can go with you anywhere. Each poem could be placed in a separate frame and enliven a room with its hope-filled message. You'll not want to part with your copy, so buy at least three.