Forty-one poems that look at ordinary things in unusual ways. "Viorst takes everyday situations that frustrate, bewilder, or bemuse and turns them into fodder for her audience's personal laugh tracks. . . . (She) succeeds in bringing out the fun in human foibles and her poems that twist traditional fairy-tale endings are positively inspired."--"Booklist." Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

From the author's preface: "After all these years, the shadows of the Holocaust are still haunting me. Often they invade my mind quite unexpectedly and dance around me 'the mad waltz of memory.' They are the representatives and reminders of the suffering and misery I endured as a captive 18-year- old girl in the concentration camps of Germany during World War II." From Requiem: O, Lord, please help me To keep alive their memory -- They died in vain, I witnessed their agony And Pain, I heard their cries, O, Lord, our God Open for them The gates of Paradise -- Let their souls Rest in peace -- Forgive mankind's atrocities -- The Waltz of the Shadows is an autobiography in the form of poetry and musical compositions. It relates, in verse, the experiences the author underwent as a young girl held captive in several German concentration camps during World War II. It deals with her suffering, the struggle for survival, as well as the senseless deaths of her family and fellow prisoners. It also depicts the period of loss and grief she experienced when she returned home alive after the War. This is the second book in Magda Herzberger's Holocaust trilogy. The first book is Survival, Magda's autobiography of her life as a child and her experiences at Auschwitz, Bremen, Bergen-Belsen, three of the most infamous of the Nazi death camps. The third book, is Tales of the Magic Forest a children's book that reflects the lessons and messages that Magda learned through her experiences at the hands of the Nazi's. Through them all, her faith and courage shine brightly.

The Zen of La Llorona is a second collection of poetry by a Native American woman, and as such, it goes beyond initial concerns with personal racial identity. While still very much speaking from an indigenous point of view, The Zen of La Llorona complicates that indigenous identity with visceral explorations of gendered violence, sexual orientation and mothering in an unpredictable, chaotic world. Key to these poems are historical and current events: traumas as distant as the colonization of California’s indigenous peoples and as close as the destructive forces of 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. How do we survive destruction without becoming destroyers ourselves? How can the elements of earth, love, community and work nurture creation, and manifest hope? Utilizing the figure of “La Llorona,” a mythical indigenous figure of the Americas who first murders and then mourns her children, the poems in this book seek to unravel the mysterious fascination we have with despair, and move us along with the poet to a more clarifying, centering focus on joy. Zen, the author notes, tells us “everyone loses everything,” leaving us with only a decision about our attitude toward loss itself. La Llorona, on the other hand, says, “Nonsense – there’s always something left to lose.” What that “something” is, and how we can preserve and honor it, is at the heart of this collection of poems.

The Ancient Rain: Poems 1956-1978 is San Francisco poet Bob Kaufman's third collection and his first to be published since the late 1960s. One of the original Beat poets (the coinage "beatnik" is his), Kaufman's work has always been essentially improvisational, often done to jazz accompaniment. And he became something of a legendary figure at the poetry readings in the early days of the San Francisco renaissance of the 1950s. With his extemporaneous technique, akin in many ways to Surrealist automatic writing, he has produced a body of work ranging from a visionary lyricism infused with satirical, almost Dadaistic elements to a prophetic poetry of political and social protest. Born in New Orleans of mixed Black and Jewish parentage, Kaufman was one of fourteen children. During twenty years in the Merchant Marine, he cultivated an intense taste for literature on his long sea voyages. Settling in California, in the '50s, he became active in the burgeoning West Coast literary scene. Disappointment, drugs, and imprisonment led him to take a ten-year vow of complete silence that lasted until 1973. The present volume includes previously uncollected poems written prior to his pledge and newer work composed in the years 1973-1978, before the poet once again lapsed into silence.

The modern world is a crucible of risks and pressures. Katia Kapovich's new poetry collection, Cossacks and Bandits, addresses a coherent range of cultural, aesthetic, psychological, philosophical, social and political issues relevant to the complexities of modern life. How does one survive war, terror, loss, injustice, trauma, displacement, marginalization and other hurtful experiences without embracing cynicism or indifference? What resources of strength must we rely on in a society that is ideologically and economically fluid and at times cynical and indifferent, where mass culture, institutional religion and national belonging have only weak and doubtful remedies to offer? The book focuses on the personal histories of men and women who are survivors of sociopolitical and economic distress. To Kapovich such individuals are the true modern hero and heroine. They show that at the limits of experience, survival and dignity depend on creative thinking, on a leap of imagination, as in the Russian children's game of Cossacks and bandits. Set in the US, Eastern Europe and the Middle East - regions that the poet knows intimately, having spent a considerable part of her life in each - this volume is a poetic survival guide to cultural and geographical displacement, alienation and marginality. With feeling and mastery, with sadness and humor, Kapovich fuses a diverse polyphony of voices and themes into original, full-blooded, lyric American verse of great general and literary interest.

Incandescent poems about living and aging—about being awake in this young century—by one of our most moving and eloquent poets. These poems chart the journeys of sleepless nights when whole lifetimes seem to pass with their stories: loves lost and gained; children and seasons in their phases; and the world beyond, both threatening and enriching life. The time before sleep acts as an invitation to reflect on the world's quieter movements—from gardens heavy after a first storm to the moon slipping into darkness in an eclipse—as well as on the subtle but relentless passage of time. Insomnia embodies Linda Pastan's graceful and iconic voice, both lucid and haunting.

Robins Poet-Tree is a collection of Poems that come straight from the heart. I hope that as you read the poems you can draw in the same warm feeling that I felt as I wrote these selections. My writing is about real life issues and events that have happened in my life. I feel these are issues that many others can also relate to. I have many memories, feelings and important people in my life intertwined in my words. Some of the topics written about in Robin's Poet-Tree are God, children, Love, & family. As you Read these selection you can find How & Where they fit into your life.