Memoir Poetry

Following in the footsteps of such category killers as Milk and Honey and Whiskey Words & a Shovel I, Fariha Róisín's poetry book is a collection of her thoughts as a young, queer, Muslim femme navigating the difficulties of her intersectionality. Simultaneously, this compilation unpacks the contentious relationship that exists between Róisín and her mother, her platonic and romantic heartbreaks, and the cognitive dissonance felt as a result of being so divided among her broad spectrum of identities.

From the moment war broke out across Europe in 1914, the world entered a new, unparalleled era of modern warfare. Soldiers faced relentless machine gun shelling, incredible artillery power, flame throwers, and gas attacks. Within the first four months of the war, the British Army recorded the nervous collapse of ten percent of its officers; the loss of such manpower to mental illness left the army unable to fill its ranks. Soldiers Don't Go Mad tells for the first time the story of the soldiers and doctors who struggled with the effects of industrial warfare on the human psyche.

Sir John Betjeman, poet, broadcaster, journalist, prose writer and critic, was one of the best-loved figures of the 20th century. Betjeman was a prolific writer and his poems still resonate today. This release celebrates the centenary of Betjeman's birth.

With the publication of her first book of poems in her sixty-third year, Amy Clampitt rose meteorically to fame, launching herself from obscurity to the upper ranks of American poetry all but overnight, and living a whirlwind eleven years, until her death in 1994. Years later, as renowned poetry scholar Willard Spiegelman wades into her papers and poems, he discovers a woman of dazzling intellect, staunch progressive politics, and an inexhaustible sense of wonder for the world and the words we’ve invented to describe it.

Will Massey let fate guide him in his life's journey, had misfortune change his charted course, and took opportunities as they presented themselves, all the while upholding the morals and values he learned as a child. Inspired by a sense of adventure, he recorded many of his life's experiences in prose and poetry with humour and a respect for others. When Bill Massey was old enough, he began a remarkable journey with his grandfather.

Forever England explores Rupert Brooke’s life, from schooldays to the Great War, and in so doing builds a remarkable picture of a long-lost England and a generation’s descent into war. Brooke’s poems emerge dramatically from a tangled web of love, friendship, mental illness and politics. He reveals also the existence of a previously unrecorded love child from a South Seas romance. The WW1 legend was largely brought about by the words of one of his sonnets: "If I should die, think only this of me/That there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever England".

Life reminds me of a swinging bridge. We begin on firm ground, and as our life progresses, we experience the sometimes thrilling, sometimes terrifying, and sometimes tranquil passage to the other side - our future. This is the story of my swinging bridge, summed up in a collection of poems, essays, writing exercises some of you may recognize, short stories, and excerpts from my memoir Son of My Soul - The Adoption of Christopher.

New York Times best-selling author J. A. Jance's heartrending collection of poetry and essays recounts a dark chapter of her own life, her first marriage to an alcoholic - a powerful look at the emotional cost of addiction and an inspiring story of courage and triumph in the wake of crushing defeat.

The Weight of Whiteness is a memoir in poetry form of the author's awareness of her whiteness during the integration of Boston's public schools in the 1950s and during visits with her family in the segregated South. Deeply personal, the poems examine the author's thoughts and feelings as family and others react to her interracial marriage in 1966, the year before the US Supreme Court overturned as unconstitutional 16 states' laws prohibiting miscegenation.

In a series of fascinating conversations with eighteen American poets, and in dozens of poems, The Language of Life celebrates language in its "most exalted, wrenching, delighted, and concentrated form," and its unique power to recreate the human experience: falling in love, facing death, leaving home, losing faith, finding God.

Poetry. Literary nonfiction. Fiction. Drama. LGBTQIA studies. Women's studies. Compiled in one book for the first time, featuring both new and out-of-print pieces, the contents of The Judy Grahn Reader span four decades of work by the prominent writer and activist. This volume contains writing from every phase of Judy Grahn's career, including poems from all of her major poetry collections, a number of her groundbreaking essays, as well as selected fiction and the full-length play The Queen of Swords.

Acclaimed Cave Canem poet and essayist Remica Bingham-Risher interweaves personal essays and interviews she conducted over a decade with 10 distinguished Black poets, such as Lucille Clifton, Sonia Sanchez, and Patricia Smith, to explore the impact of identity, joy, love, and history on the artistic process. Each essay is thematically inspired, centered on one of her interviews, and uses quotes drawn from her talks to showcase their philosophies. Each essay also delves into how her own life and work are influenced by these elders.

The book chronicles, in poetic form, the life of a woman who, in three distinct and significant life events, feels she is “the other woman” to her husband, to her child, and even to herself, rather than the woman who is “good enough” just as she is. Not until she loses her eyesight does she finally allow herself to stop putting herself aside and be who she always has been—a strong, insightful, creative, resilient, faith driven, funny, and fun-loving woman. A resurrected woman!

A collection of poems written by someone who is no stranger to everyday struggles of love and mayhem. These poems vary in topics and length. Judith understands struggles and that with hope a little faith that strengthen our beliefs, there is always a brighter day tomorrow. With faith and understanding, the bitter realities of human relations makes us stronger today.

Sometimes the best way to understand what’s deep inside requires looking outward. Sometimes the best way to understand the world outside requires a deep dive within. And sometimes, those two things are so intertwined it’s difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends. The Forest of My Youth is a collection of poems and perspectives that probe some of the deepest, most profound and sometimes achingly painful thoughts and questions I’ve had since my spinal cord injury in 1993.

Gay icon, great poet, leather daddy, eccentric professor, English, American, biker, non-driver, drug addict, hedonist, intellectual, enigmatic, friendly, Everyman, one-of-a-kind, brother, roommate, HIV-negative, paradigmatic AIDS writer, Nazi belt wearer, Jeff Dahmer scholar, Guggenheim Genius, secret philanthropist, Formalist, Existentialist, prolific letter writer, some-sort-of-an-angel...Thom Gunn was all of these and more... But hovering above these figures lay the memory of his mother.

Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning were united not only as man and wife, but also as writers who shared and debated ideas, values, and literary craft.

Abandoned by her hustling father, raised by her devoted mother, then battered by the winds of loss, heartbreak, and sexual assault, awarded diversity and inclusion leader and author Nikki Murphy exposes the undercurrents of resilience and faith that undergird her success in this riveting memoir-in-verse. Home for Hurricanes provides a sobering portrayal of both the jubilance and hardening of Black girls emanating from the ghettos, and Murphy celebrates their resolve to build free and whole lives.

Into the Goddesslands (1993-1995) is the first book of the Goddesslands Trilogy, a composite of vignettes, journal entries, poems, and dialogues with inner voices - the personal myth of Pamé La Calmette.

"Ashes in the Milk" will remind listeners that their greatest path to healing lies within—all they must do is walk down the path. Valerie Johns, MA, MFT, is a prolific poet, author, and therapist who is passionate about helping others heal from their deepest wounds.