Showing titles in Themes & Styles

'I'm sure you could benefit from jumping on a treadmill,' 'Women WANT a male leader.... It's honest to god the basic human playbook.' These are some of the thousands of messages that Kate Baer has received online. Like countless other writers - particularly women - with profiles on the internet, as Kate's online presence grew, so did the darker messages crowding her inbox. These missives from strangers have ranged from 'advice' and opinions to outright harassment.

In this second volume of Dante Alighieri's ageless classic, the *Comedie* (*Commedia*), Vergil and Dante emerge from their upward climb out the lower depths of Hell, at the center of the earth, to find themselves at the shores of the Mountain of Purgatory, exactly opposite Jerusalem in the Hemisphere of Water, where it is the only land below the Equator. Here they encounter other newcome souls and those who are awaiting entry into the punishments.

“What Breaks Us” by Megan Davis is a cathartic collection of poetry that channels pain and angst into strength for healing and self-discovery. This poetry collection is a candid reflection on heartache, loss, and the difficult work of self-examination to uncover unhealed wounds. With topics ranging from love to spirituality, grief to psychology, Davis’s poetry is an outpouring of emotion that balances the deeply personal with the universality of the human experience.

Christina Rossetti's long narrative poem about two innocent sisters, Lizzie and Laura, tempted by the delicious, magical fruit sold by goblin merchants as they walk through the glen....

Kahlil Gibran was a master of capturing stories through poetic tales. He somehow managed to take a simple human thought or concept, and breathe life into it through his words in such a way that one cannot help but be instantly transported right into the midst of it. When you listen to Gibran’s poetry, you aren’t just listening to the words, you are listening to living breathing people; or at least it feels that way.

In Big Man Katie Kemple creates a portrait of fatherhood in the shadow of loss: the untimely death of partners, unresolved trauma as a veteran, and chronic pain. Kemple shows a father moving forward despite it all with the generosity and grace to love and be loved. He's the teacher who gives hitchhiking students a lift to the mall, the dad who chaperones Girl Scout fieldtrips, the husband who clings to the last flame of his wife's life. A man who stayed open to "rocks, sea glass, / shells and pinecones. Small things we / might have passed into his big hands."

The Kalevala is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology. The Kalevala was instrumental in the development of the Finnish national identity and the sense of nationality that led to Finland's independence from Russia in 1917. Beginning with the traditional Finnish creation myth, the Kalevala branches out into stories of the creation of the earth, plants, creatures, and the sky. There are many stories of, romance, kidnapping, seduction, and magical spell casting and singing.

Jen Minkman was born in the Netherlands in 1978. Although she has always written stories in Dutch, the poems and lyrics she writes are almost exclusively in English. The aborigines of Australia use Dreaming tracks or Songlines to find their way across vast expanses of land. Words in these songs describe natural landmarks originally created by the gods in song, and the songs must be sung regularly in order to keep the land alive. Likewise, the poems in this audiobook mark my walk of life and should be listened to in order to keep my soul alive and help me find my way.

This book is a poetry collection based on events in 2022 and 2023. The poems are nature-based for the most part. The book describes areas in the western United States, primarily. This is the author's fifth poetry collection to be published since 2018. The book inspires relaxation and meditation. It is calming in nature.

Kahlil Gibran's aphorisms, stories, and poetry on a theme remain among some of those best known to Western readers. His views, however, extend beyond the most-quoted "greeting card" sayings to a wide realm of human emotions and relationships - passion, desire, idealized love, justice, friendship, and the challenges of dealing with strangers, neighbors, and enemies. This little book captures love and life in all of their complexities and nuances. 

A tragic epic love story before Romeo and Juliet, by one of the greatest medieval Persian romance poets, in a modern-verse English translation by Dick Davis A Penguin Classic Based on historical characters of the seventh-century Iranian court and written 850 years ago, the narrative poem about...

In the early 1990s, eight people living in a small conservative Florida town alleged that Dr. David Acer, their dentist, infected them with HIV. David's gayness, along with his sickly appearance from his own AIDS-related illness, made him the perfect scapegoat and victim of mob mentality. In these early years of the AIDS epidemic, when transmission was little understood, and homophobia rampant, people like David were villainized. Accuser Kimberly Bergalis landed a People magazine cover story, while others went on talk shows and made front page news.

Rising star and spoken word poet Jae Nichelle debuts her luminous thoughts in God Themselves, a new collection of stirring poetry. Nichelle taps into her experiences of growing up in the South as a queer Black woman to courageously confront the effects of a forced religion and the inherent dangers of living life in a female body. God Themselves is divided into three equally moving sections: Everything, Everywhere, and Love. Nichelle braids her wisdom—as seen in the poem “What to Do When There’s Nothing You Can Do”––and witty generational humor—seen in “Sanctity: An Exposé”—into every poem.

This fresh voice in American poetry wields lyric pleasure and well-honed insight against a cruel century that would kill us with a thousand cuts. "Morín's writing uses the mundane details of everyday life...as a jumping-off point for creating fascinating and philosophical worlds." —LitHub...

Yang Sooyi once loved her husband with all her heart. But his demanding career and stardom have left her heart crushed. She hardly sees him anymore. Jealousy creeps in, twisting her thoughts down dark paths. Yang Sooyi slowly loses her grip on sanity as loneliness grips her. Lost in sorrow, she finds herself alone at the worst possible time.

Sometimes Therapy Isn’t Enough finds the author coping with mental health struggles through poetry. The book is divided into four chapters, taking the listener on a raw emotional journey through anxiety, addiction, depression, and grief.

An impressive and though-provoking collection from GRAMMY nominated artist and poet Courtney Marie Andrews. With the same vulnerability and timelessness as her debut collection Old Monarch, Love Is a Dog That Bites When It’s Scared acknowledges the layers to our feelings, experiences, and...

At times playful, at times heartbreaking, When One World Ends, Another Begins is a raw, honest look at how it feels to be alive. On the surface, these poems are an examination of what it is to be human. Underneath, they’re an exploration of body image, fear, faith, and the ways life runs in circles. They exist to peel back the tough layers and expose the softness inside.

‘Powerful, capacious and profound’ OCEAN VUONG ‘A book you won’t soon forget’ ILYA KAMINSKY ‘Astonishing’ TERRANCE HAYES LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE FROM THE WINNER OF THE 2025 PULITZER PRIZE FOR COMMENTARY A deeply powerful collection of poems about life in Gaza by...

Are you looking to strengthen your relationship with God? Do you find yourself untangling the threads of what it is you really believe? Are you longing for a deeper connection to your spiritual side? Bunmi Laditan has been in your shoes. In the midst of her darkest days, Bunmi began writing down...