Concrete Kids (2019)

Homie

Danez Smith

2020 · 96 pages · 4 reviews

Others: Overwhelmingly positive

"Homie is Danez Smith's magnificent anthem about the saving grace of friendship. Rooted in the loss of one of Smith's close friends, this book comes out of the search for joy and intimacy within a nation where both can seem scarce and getting scarcer. In poems of rare power and generosity, Smith acknowledges that in a country overrun by violence, xenophobia, and disparity, and in a body defined by race, queerness, and diagnosis, it can be hard to survive, even harder to remember reasons for living. But then the phone lights up, or a shout comes up to the window, and family--blood and chosen--arrives with just the right food and some redemption. Part friendship diary, part bright elegy, part war cry, Homie is the exuberant new book written for Danez and for Danez's friends and for you and for yours."--

Light for the World to See

Kwame Alexander

2020 · 96 pages · 1 review

Others: Positive

A Portable Paradise

Roger Robinson

2020 · 84 pages · 1 review

Others: Positive

A portrait of the artist as Filipino

Nick Joaquin

1966 · 122 pages · 1 review

Others: Positive

A Shropshire lad

A.E. Housman

1896 · 95 pages · 1 review

Others: Positive

First published in 1896, this is Housman's first and most widely known collection of poems. Dismal and fatalistic, Housman speaks of the cruelty of life. In contrast to the dreary subject matter, the poetry itself is brisk and lively. Considered by many to be among the finest works of modern British poetry.

A thousand mornings

Mary Oliver

2012 · 87 pages · 1 review

Others: Positive

In this collection of poems the author returns to the imagery that has come to define her life's work, transporting us to the marshland and coastline of her beloved home, Provincetown, Massachusetts. In these pages, she shares the wonder of dawn, the grace of animals, and the transformative power of attention. Whether studying the leaves of a tree or mourning her adored dog, Percy, she is ever patient in her observations and open to the teachings contained in the smallest of moments. A chronicler of physical landscape, she opens our eyes to the nature within, to its wild and its quiet. With clarity, humor, and kindness these poems explore the mysteries of our daily experience.