Family Poetry

Clara Jean Beaman Walker was the third of seven children born to Cora and Clarence Beaman in Knoxville, TN, in 1910. Considered to be “Little Mother” by her siblings, she always gave her best to her birth family and to the family she created with her husband, John Albert Walker. Three sons came from this union: Johnny, Clarence, and Henry. A teacher at heart, Jean saw each child before her and helped them navigate home economics, English, and realizing their potential.

Cynthia has devoted her life to nursing, inside and outside the walls of the hospital. Her dedication and commitment to the nurses of yesterday as well as the nurses of today and tomorrow are held close to her heart, mind, and prayers each day. This book exemplifies her compassion for the art of nursing. Her heart beats for the nurses, the patients, and their families. Cynthia believes that if mentored and nurtured, nurses can be the light in the darkest moments of a person’s life. Her poems give a nurse the perfect dose of inspiration, hope, and comfort.

The purpose for which I wrote the following poem(s) is because they assisted me in expressing the feelings, thoughts, and emotions which I was having at the time while I walked through a relatively challenging period of my life. I hope to inspire other young Black males to also express their thoughts, talk about their feelings, and to hopefully try to make the world a better place. Allow yourself as the listener to think of your own perspective regarding these topics, issues, and subject matters.

When I was in the fourth grade, we had a map of Vietnam on our kitchen wall. When my mother received an airmail letter, she would walk to the map and move one of the stickpins to a new location to see if one of her brothers was in harm’s way in some new hot spot or battle. I spent a lot of time worrying about that map. I had five uncles in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. This is a book about going off to war, a book about coming back home, and a book about those who are left behind. I dedicate this book to those voices, my family, and every voice calling out at times of war.

No Sweet Without Brine is both a soulful and celebratory collection that summons sticky sweet memories with an acrid aftertaste of deep thought. Satisfying moments are captured in odes to Idris Elba’s dulcet tones on a meditation app and the satisfaction of half-priced Entenmann’s poundcake; in childlike observations of parental Black love, the coveted female form on Jet Magazine covers, and the desire for Zamunda to be a real place full of Black joy.

The poems of Dear October chronicle the evolution of the natural world and a daughter caring for her mother during the last year of her life. Months of the final year act as the scaffolding for the collection as they reflect on the 12 moons. The spirit of home, family, and mother-daughter relationship intertwine with the diversity of culture and ecology in Northern New Mexico.

The title poem, a series of sonnet-sized Zoom meetings - a classroom, a memorial service, an encounter with a new baby in the family - finds humor and pathos in our age of social distancing and technology-induced proximity. Salter shows too how imagination collapses time and space: In “Island Diaries”, the pragmatist Robinson Crusoe meets on the beach a shipwrecked dreamer from an earlier century, Shakespeare’s Prospero.

Honeybee is a collection of raw, honest, and intimate conversations with oneself that lead you on a journey of reflection. By writing truthfully about the intricacies of her experiences, Rideau’s first collection of work is one that will speak to the very depths of those who read it, inspiring a will to question, heal and empower.

In this radiant debut collection, Cathryn Shea constructs a world as delicate, colorful, and sharp as an autumn leaf yet as stable as the ancient tree it’s fallen from. Harnessing evocative imagery that illuminates the inherent spirituality within even the frailest human gestures, these poems reach across generations, genders, and cultures to give voice to the kind of unabashed gratitude that lights up our darkest edges.

This exciting collection of free-form poetry with over 40 poems by Susan J. Farese, MSN, RN, is a sharing of both professional and personal thoughts and feelings. Susan is a strong advocate of the creative use of poetry to express the wonderment, frustration, dedication, and the love of nurses for their profession and their patients.

Christian Morgenstern kombiniert in seinem Werk ernste, gedankenvolle Lyrik und groteske Verse mit ironisch-skeptischem Witz. In seinen Werken ist die Frage nach dem Sinn der menschlichen Existenz sowie der Versuch, den Mensch zu sich selbst zu führen, verankert. Er nimmt Sinnbilder wörtlich, wandelt Klangbilder in sinnfreier Analogie und grotesker Umdeutung ab. Interpretiert werden Morgensterns Texte von Meistern ihres Fachs, die dabei genau den richtigen Ton treffen - gefühlvoll, pointiert, ironisch und vor allem facettenreich.

The poems in Yanyi’s latest book suggest that we enter and exit our old selves like homes. We look through the windows and recognize some former aspect of our lives that is both ours and not ours. We long for what we had even as we recognize that we can no longer live there. Yanyi conjures the beloved both within and without us: the beloved we believe we know, the beloved who is never the person we imagine, and the beloved who threatens to erase us even as we stand before them.

In this story the child is invited on a journey into the galaxy where wonders never cease. This is a galaxy where love, acceptance, and unconditional support reign supreme. “THE FAMILY STAR” offers a standing invitation to the child. The child will learn that they are always in good company as Stars are personified in a unique and brilliant way. It is a fascinating opportunity to look upon a galaxy of stars in their seemingly infinite number and feel comforted by their resilience and tenacity.

Frank, unsparing, often violent, and disturbing, these poems speak in the voice of a young man trying to navigate the city he loves as he lives in the long shadow of its decline with a sense of grace and hope. With the city of Baltimore as his backdrop, accomplished poet, author, and editor Dean Bartoli Smith offers a wrenching examination of our troubled attachments to place and the deepest wounds of the American psyche.

"How can I teach a prayer / I only know how to recite?" "America, whose death / didn't you come from?" These are some of the questions that poet Joshua Gottlieb-Miller wrestles with in his beautiful, gripping new collection. By turns experimental and documentary, Dybbuk Americana draws out the questions around Jewish identity in the United States, and what it means to pass on Jewish identity to one's child. This hybrid text draws on art, mysticism, and history, taking the dybbuk, a figure from Jewish folklore, as its central metaphor.

The Dry Valley encapsulates one woman’s relationship with herself, her alcoholic spouse, and the world, in three different Saskatchewan landscapes. The poems offer a fascinating interplay between mindful explorations of self and immersions in the challenging complexities of interpersonal relationships, social issues, and meaningful engagement with the environment.

In We Inherit What the Fires Left, award-winning poet William Evans embarks on a powerful new collection that explores the lived experience of race in the American suburbs and what dreams and injuries are passed from generation to generation. Fall under the spell of Evans' boldly intimate, wise, and emotionally candid voice in these urgent, electrifying poems. This eloquent collection explores not only what these inheritances are composed of, but what price the bearer must pay for such legacies, and the costly tolls exacted on both body and spirit.

"ECHOES OF GREATNESS: Poems By Justice Ajani" invites listeners into a world where poetry becomes a bridge between generations, passions, and profound reflections. Inspired by a lineage steeped in activism, spirituality, and artistic expression, Justice Ajani's verses resonate with the echoes of his ancestors and the vibrancy of his own voice.

My latest book is called Looking Back: A Poets Journey and is my sixth poetry book in just a year and a half. It has been a very tearful and emotional time as I wrote down the pages and started looking back at some of my fans favorites and some of the poetry that made the poet you see today. I hope that you enjoy listening to them as I have enjoyed writing them for you all. Words can never express the happiness that I have inside and I want to thank you all for such a wonderful journey so far.

Immerse yourself in the delightful world of dogs with Dog Poems: Guardians of Family & Home. This enchanting collection of poems celebrates the heartwarming and playful antics of 283 dog breeds. What sets this book apart is its unique feature of listing the breeds alphabetically, making it convenient for you to find your favorite. Each poem captures every breed's unique spirit and charm, from the affectionate Affenpinscher to the zesty Yorkshire Terrier.