Showing all 8 results
Birds at the Post Office
by Richard Zuras $4.99 – $12.95
by Richard Zuras
These poems illuminate a life of family—a life of love and loss: jobs worked, kids born and raised, love’s passions and ebbs, failures and successes, the big moments and the small, the dreams and the nightmares.
Coming Around
by Richard Rose $15.00
by Richard Rose
While researching family history for his semibiographical opera Monte and Pinky, Richmond-based poet and songwriter Richard Rose came face to face with the fact of his ancestors' involvement in the local slave trade. As a social and environmental activist, Rose became determined to explore and come to terms with the many consequences of the injustices in which his family took part.
A story in verse, Coming Around is the companion piece to Monte and Pinky, following the life and descendants of a slave named Simon Abouette and of the Ouillechaud family, who purchase him to work on their sugar plantation in the early 1800s. Interspersed with heartbreaking lyric pieces based on historical anecdotes from across the South, Coming Around is the culmination of one man's effort to heal the hurts of the past through humility, understanding, and acceptance.
Creeping Thyme
by Ron Pies $16.00
by Ron Pies
This collection of works offers a rare journey through the poet’s experience as a psychiatrist and as a man. Each poem in this collection has its “depth, space/and flowering height,” as do the hyacinth and late tulip that Pies tends in his garden. This is a world of pain, loss, joy, and growing older, where the physician’s keen observation meets the poet’s compassionate heart, and where each line is rich with tension, music, and maturity. In these poems, there is a powerful faith in man and his ability to prevail.
Ravenous Words
$14.95 – $25.95
By Lisa Lucas and Susan Wurtzburg
In these tumultuous times, poetry bridges borders, creates connections, and imparts ideas. Writers Lisa Lucas and Susan J. Wurtzburg whispered words and shouted stanzas to each other by text and voice across the geographical expanses of Canada, the USA, and the Pacific Ocean. Their collaboration was adorned later by paired ravens, the cover print created by James Lahey, a noted Canadian artist, living in Toronto.
This raven motif glides through the book sections and their poetry, with connections to the idea of being ravenous, insatiable, and greedy, all of which contrast with the socially normed perceptions of women. It also links to the long history of strong female writers, hungry for expression, who were largely disparaged and outcast from less contemporaneous poetry histories. Here, the title and poetic content connect these tropes in innovative ways that speak to people in the Americas and the Pacific, where most of these works are situated.
Steel Slides and Yellow Walls
$13.95
By Alicia Swain
In Steel Slides and Yellow Walls, Alicia Swain navigates the labyrinthine journey women undergo to form their identities. Through a feminist lens and distinctive voice, her collection veraciously portrays the trials that forge women into sagacious, resilient adults. From contemplation of how to balance mental health despite knowing what tribulations are sure to come, to the title poem’s exploration of how traumatic memories can continue to haunt in the most unexpected situations, Swain offers a look at the diverse experiences that mold women into the tenacious beings they are.
Sunset Sonata
by Robert Johnson $15.95
by Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson’s voice resonates like a wise old teacher sharing his simple, worldly wisdom. He speaks about the natural world, the preciousness of life, and about innocence, but also about injustice, loss, human frailties, and the menace of terrorism, withholding nothing.
Like Johnson’s poetry, Virginia’s Northern Neck and the rivers that run through it are abundant with a primitive, yet refined beauty, and being there inspires quiet comfort. More than any other state of mind, this contentedness defines Sunset Sonata.
In spite of global threats, cynicism, loss, and the uncertainty and brevity of life, one can find nourishment and be restored by the words of poets like Robert Johnson who can find beauty and hope in the world.
The Doodle Tree
$5.99 – $13.95
Written and illustrated by Betty Bott
The Doodle Tree is about a young person exploring the art form of doodling. Sitting in a tree with a pad on their lap, the child feels free to make marks on the paper. They explore different ways to use the pencil to create different types of lines. The child lets their inner self take control of the pencil. There is no concern for making mistakes, no place for perfection, and no judgment. There is a connection between the natural world the child is experiencing and the expressive marks on the child’s paper. The child’s doodles create a tree. On the last page, the reader (age 6-13) is invited to explore their creativity by picking up a pencil to doodle. This book is meant to free the reader of preconceived ideas of doodling and drawing. There are no rules and no limits. Doodling is a visual expression of our inner self that allows our mind to open to new possibilities, to be free of judgment, and to let our imaginations flow in new directions. Doodling is for everyone. Pick up a pencil and discover how doodling can be a freeing, relaxing, and fun journey for you.
Twinings: Poems at Eighty
$6.99 – $14.95
by Julie Fritz
This gathering of poems from Julie Fritz’s lifetime of attention will give readers a chance to travel back in their own memories too, bringing with them the probing questions and insights she has generously shared in this heartfelt collection about a life well-lived.
