Bücher veröffentlicht von Grayson Books

In Ruined Music, the failures that come with living are redeemed by the lyricism, tenderness, and humor of their telling. Valentina Gnup says in one poem, "I want the rain to fall like petals / every morning across the thirsty world." The poems in this book seem to do just that.

This is a fictional verse-story of Ann Gallagher, also known as Dill, jailed in 1850s Ireland-just one little girl trying to make her way in the world even as the evils of famine, nationalism, and anti-Catholicism conspire to test her courage and restrain her from finding her true Irish roots. She is jailed for the crime of stealing a parsnip. In Kilmainham Gaol she meets Tommy, a boy who will eventually be exiled to Australia, and Róisín, a female pirate, and Mary, a pregnant teen. Although Dill and these others are fictional characters, their experiences accurately reflect those of far too many people who suffered through similar ordeals. The stunning lyricism of the poems in this book make their situation all the more poignant.

Maybe I Should Fly is a collection of poems written in English by two young Afghan women. The Labib sisters, seldom given opportunities to be fully seen or heard in their own country, use poetry to express their deepest concerns, fears, joys and perspectives on life. This volume of poetry, which may be considered poetry of witness, provides valuable insights to anyone wishing to understand what it is like for the women of Afghanistan.

Each poem in What Word for This explores a word from another language that expresses something we have no term for in English. Certainly language shapes our experience even as it attempts to express it. In these luminous poems, Marion Boyer explores myriad human experiences of time, space, memory, longing, and the ineffable.

This collection of poems addresses global warming and climate change. The Biblical figure Noah appears in many of the poems, seeming as real and contemporary as your next-door neighbor. The complexity of our love for the world, even as we disregard it, is evident in these nuanced poems. This poetry book is also a book of history and science, spirituality and ecology.

This follow-up volume to the immensely popular Poetry of Presence presents a feast of mindfulness poems. The poems are skillfully crafted and highly accessible. Its authors speak from a rich variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and life-paths. Most are contemporary or recent poets.Many of the poems delve into relational or social mindfulness, exploring "the tough stuff" of living among others with presence. These poems invite us to face relational challenges without turning away from them. They encourage us to seek equanimity, and to address challenges with compassion, hope, courage, and humility.

Love's Test is the winner of the 2019 Grayson Books Chapbook Competition. Life's most fundamental questions are raised in this elegant short poetry collection by Jed Myers. In the end, the poems in Love's Test acknowledge our separateness, and our struggles to connect, but also affirm the power of our willingness to try and try again. A poet who writes with great tenderness, honesty, and grace, Myers has won many awards for his work.

Forty Voices Strong is a robust anthology of poetry by contemporary Scottish poets. In it are unflinching portraits of people whose lives are full of laughter and suffering, friendship and loss, pride and determination. Although the style and subject matter of the poems vary greatly, in general they are notable for the compassion, wisdom, and humor they express.

In a series of poems, Maxine Susman tells of her mother's journey toward a rewarding career as a doctor. A young Jewish girl from Brooklyn, the daughter of Russian immigrants, she became a student at the world's first medical school for women, which she attended during the Great Depression. The poems in My Mother's Medicine chart one person's story even as they contribute to the larger story of women's history in our country.

In My Inner Eye, Michael Lepore shares tender poems of loss and renewal, memory and hope. He takes us to visit with his Italian relatives: a grandfather sitting outside on a kitchen chair, bestowing a silver dollar to lucky grandkids, an aunt cooking up fried dough or her special tomato sauce, and more. We learn about his early struggles and enduring love. The chaotic sixties come to life once again. A compassionate look at the aging-whether it is a neglected barn or a lonely widow is part of this collection, and in these poems nature, too, offers its solaces, as in "Spring's Fancy," where "seeds, like innocent hearts, sleep beneath their winter blanket."

Many of the poems in this remarkable collection by Richard Cole focus on the often "unsung" individuals who populate various sectors of the business world, individuals whose humanity too often goes unrecognized. These poems are generous in spirit and intelligent in outlook. In Song of the Middle Manager, Cole skillfully investigates the ways all of us must navigate between our ideals and the compromises the world demands.