Built to Last

by Tara L. Carnes

Scheduled Release Date: May 15, 2022

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In Built to Last, Tara L. Carnes weaves the voices of survivors into poems to take a fearless look at domestic violence and the support systems that make it possible to heal from the trauma.

 

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“In language as precise as it is restrained, Tara Carnes’ Built to Last is a testament to Carl Jung’s theory of the individuation process—that process each of us must move through in order to become the human beings we were intended to become. Carnes shines a vivid light on scenes of shame, despair, abuse, and terror and on scenes of courageous attempts to help others who have experienced the same. Despite the physical and emotional traumas these poems explore, Carnes shares with us those moments when she has finally taken ownership of her power, enjoying unabashedly her comeuppance. Always, though, at the core of this trilogy of suffering and survival, there is a deep reverence for those both Divine and earthly who have journeyed with her in the darkness/ sharing [their] wisdom and faith.”

—Cathy Smith Bowers, Poet Laureate of North Carolina 2010-2012

Shells in the Sieve

by Nathan Fryback

Scheduled Release Date: May 15, 2022

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The Shells in the Sieve are the things of substance in our lives that we keep as we move through growth, change and renewal. Family, sense of self and a deep reverence for the great wheels of the natural world are the solid artifacts found on the shore in these poems. Voiced from the perspective of various, sometimes inanimate entities, the work here seeks to express the power of place amidst constant change and the search for grace in the human endeavor.

 

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“Nathan Fryback has crafted a collection of unbelievable beauty and loneliness in this his first collection. From things as seemingly mundane as a grocery cart to the fantastic supernatural of the moon and stars, he expertly pulls you in and takes you on a journey of not only his own history and life experience but makes one consider one’s own life in a poignant and sometimes bitter sweetness. A must have for all poetry lovers.”

—Sarah Walker, fiction writer, professor of Anthropology at CSU, San Marcos

A Nest in the Heart

by Vivienne Popperl

Scheduled Release Date: Apr 15, 2022

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In A Nest in the Heart, Vivienne Popperl conjures the lives of her ancestors to better understand their stories and their influence on her life. The poems will take the reader on a journey through Johannesburg, Europe, and the Willamette Valley of Oregon, as the poet faces the age-old question: “Where do I belong?” Influenced by the poetry of Elizabeth Woody, she explores how the body’s physical landscape intersects and resides within the natural, geographical world.

 

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“In Vivienne Popperl’s luminous book, A Nest in the Heart, she listens for the unknowable stories of her ancestors—refugees from Lithuania, farmers and women doctors in Apartheid South Africa, letters from the dead—to come back to herself. “She kept her nerve,” Popperl says of her mother’s story, “fierce brave heart.” The same could be said for Popperl’s collection. It takes courage to tell the truth of our families, grace to make them shine. “Poems of love/ stitched/ the blue sky” she says of her youth in Johannesburg. Thankfully, throughout A Nest in the Heart, they still do.”

—Claudia F. Saleeby Savage, author of Bruising Continents

Finalist from The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize, 2021

Tell Her Yes

by Ann Farley

Scheduled Release Date: Apr 15, 2022

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A drop of rain slips from leaf to ground, perhaps to river and beyond. Like rain’s journey, our lives twist and turn, hit dry stretches and unexpected turbulence, land on moments of beauty. Nurture and nature, with its solace and challenges, weaves through the poems in Tell Her Yes. Themes of love and parenthood, friendship, aging, dementia, and death wind through this collection like a river, while a heron keeps watch, and a crocodile lurks in the murk.

 

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“In Tell Her Yes, Ann Farley offers us lyric poems that speak the language of forgiveness, of patience, of humility and reverence. A number of these poems are about the natural world. A number are about her work giving palliative care. Given their compelling tone, all these poems are—in themselves—advocates for what’s palliative. Calling us toward our better selves, this collection asks us to see ourselves as capable of sustained generosity and kindness. Farley’s poems remind us that, like a beneficent river, “At our best we are an expanse of blue, / a shallow of nurture,” a haven for all whose lives touch ours.”

—Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita

Finalist from The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize, 2021

Transition Thunderstorms

by Beth Bonness

Scheduled Release Date: Apr 15, 2022

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All her life Beth Bonness tingled with the sight of approaching thunderstorms—watching them over the wide expanse of a lake or far away mountains—the electrifying steel blue background with the sun on her back reflecting an eerie Tuscan yellow light of a childhood-giggled “storm’s a coming” cast on unsuspecting trees and anything else between you and the rain, the thunder and lighting, and unexpected life events that soak you to the bone. The poems in Transition Thunderstorms are about life’s soaking you to the bone.

Listen to Beth read a poem from the book, “Wrong Word Dinner”

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“Beth Bonness writes from the depths of her soul’s experience. With the finesse of a true poet, she invites the seeker to the pinch point of their pain, then, having walked the path herself, coaxes the reader through to greater understanding and self-acceptance. With extraordinary alchemy, and a shared sense of empathy and relief, Bonness leaves the reader transformed.

Transition Thunderstorms offers breathtaking insights into life events we find hard to talk about with the people we love most. The book is a tender and honest lifeline to reconnection. Her poetry articulates truths of recovery with gentleness and compassion and resonates hope.”

—Roxanne Colyer, award-winning artist, writer, and bio-energy healer

Finalist from The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize, 2021

Contraband

by Juan Pablo Mobili

Scheduled Release Date: Apr 15, 2022

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Juan Pablo Mobili’s poems are born from living life with eyes that wish to stop seeing but remained open, and bear the record of being a citizen of one family and two countries. In them you will meet the people he loved and deeply shaped what he must pay attention to, and a personal city that keeps establishing its presence and its mark —the cadence of Buenos Aires and the rhythm of New York— full of memories of beauty and the insistent tragedies that still take place, the injustices committed on people who have not deserved them.

In Contraband’s poems you will meet the poet’s mother and his father who visit long after they passed, accounts of the blessings and the curses of remembering what he has witnessed, watching the world struggling with itself and, sometimes, reaching redemption.

Ultimately, these are poems about a certain hard-earned joy, having managed some reconciliation with turning out the way he has, a human being—“the only animal that blushes, or needs to,” as Mark Twain wrote—still skeptical but rooting for kindness winning its fight against indifference. Molten material to shape into poems that may matter to the reader, or at least a way to make the world a more hospitable place.

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“I was struck immediately by its humanism, its lyrical command born of precision and restraint. Whether he is writing about the death of his parents, or the secrets that move within us like a second body, his poems are quiet chronicles of our mysterious journeys as living creatures.”

—Robert Hirschfield, poet and essayist, author of The Road to Canaan

POETRY for CHILDREN with FULL-COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS of THEIR FAVORITE ANIMALS

In the Jaguar’s House

by Debbie Hall

Scheduled Release Date: Mar 20, 2022

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In the Jaguar’s House is a celebration of the world’s wildlife through animal poetry and photographs taken in faraway places such as Africa, South America, and the Galapagos Islands. Poems written for young readers are infused with humor and delight, crafted by close observation, and convey a deep appreciation for wild animals and the natural world. Several of the poems represent endangered animals and encourage readers to take active part in protecting them. Included in the book are informative “fun facts,” resources for further reading and ideas on how kids can help wildlife survive and thrive.

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“These wonderful poems and stunning photographs are a feast for the ear and eye and will delight animal loving children both young and old.”

—Georgia Heard, author of Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky

“In the Jaguar’s House is a delightful book that will add interest, knowledge and enjoyment to children’s classrooms and homes. Immediately inviting with its stories in verse, stunning photos, and kid-friendly titles and formats, it masterfully combines science, language, and art. A great read for those who are already avid animal lovers, it is sure also to engage all readers to feel a personal connection to the animal kingdom.”

—Ellen Yaffa, Early literacy expert and reading tutor

Finalist from The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize, 2021

Beneath the Gravel Weight of Stars

by Mimi German

Scheduled Release Date: Mar 15, 2022

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What is the language of the streets, of the unhoused millions who inhabit them?

As a poet and an activist/advocate for the houseless, Mimi German has written poems that tell the stories of the unseen. Beneath the Gravel Weight of Stars is a lyrical force as it translates the language of suffering, trauma, addiction, sorrow, love, and the fires of life & death. These poems are filled with a language you might not readily recognize—In the staccato breaks of thought and phrases that carry multiple meanings—to reveal the hidden, the underworld, and the shadows of the heart.  

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“What does it mean to be housed in this increasingly complex world? What does it mean to be houseless? Beneath the Gravel Weight of Stars (formerly titled Eyes of Horse Hair) explores these questions with lyric, evocative constellations of images, where we see how lavender begs to the sky between the hours, and that shows—and evokes—so much, without having to be explicit. These brief poems reverberate beyond what is on the page, giving readers much to think on and feel long after the final page. Stunning music is scattered throughout all of these poems.

—Lisa Kwong, guest editor for The Hopper Poetry Prize