Beautiful & Pointless

Beautiful & Pointless
Author: David Orr
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2011-04-12
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0062079417

"David Orr is no starry-eyed cheerleader for contemporary poetry; Orr’s a critic, and a good one. . . . Beautiful & Pointless is a clear-eyed, opinionated, and idiosyncratic guide to a vibrant but endangered art form, essential reading for anyone who loves poetry, and also for those of us who mostly just admire it from afar." —Tom Perrotta Award-winning New York Times Book Review poetry columnist David Orr delivers an engaging, amusing, and stimulating tour through the world of poetry. With echoes of Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer, Orr’s Beautiful & Pointless offers a smart and funny approach to appreciating an art form that many find difficult to embrace.

Park Songs

Park Songs
Author: David Budbill
Publisher: Exterminating Angel Press
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2012-09-04
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1935259164

?One of the most readable American poets ever” (Booklist) amplifies the voices of an unsung community.

Forest Has A Song

Forest Has A Song
Author: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2013-03-26
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0547680996

A spider is a “never-tangling dangling spinner / knitting angles, trapping dinner.” A tree frog proposes, “Marry me. Please marry me… / Pick me now. / Make me your choice. / I’m one great frog / with one strong voice.” VanDerwater lets the denizens of the forest speak for themselves in twenty-six lighthearted, easy-to-read poems. As she observes, “Silence in Forest / never lasts long. / Melody / is everywhere / mixing in / with piney air. / Forest has a song.” The graceful, appealing watercolor illustrations perfectly suit these charming poems that invite young readers into the woodland world at every season.

Sho

Sho
Author: Douglas Kearney
Publisher: Wave Books
Total Pages: 90
Release: 2022-01-18
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1950268624

2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST FOR POETRY Eschewing series and performative typography, Douglas Kearney’s Sho aims to hit crooked licks with straight-seeming sticks. Navigating the complex penetrability of language, these poems are sonic in their espousal of Black vernacular traditions, while examining histories, pop culture, myth, and folklore. Both dazzling and devastating, Sho is a genius work of literary precision, wordplay, farce, and critical irony. In his “stove-like imagination,” Kearney has concocted poems that destabilize the spectacle, leaving looky-loos with an important uncertainty about the intersection between violence and entertainment.

The last David, and Other Poems

The last David, and Other Poems
Author: Charles J. Pickering
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2024-02-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 3385332796

Reprint of the original, first published in 1883.

They Call Me Güero

They Call Me Güero
Author: David Bowles
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 113
Release: 2021-08-24
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0593462556

An award-winning novel in verse about a boy who navigates the start of seventh grade and life growing up on the border the only way that feels right—through poetry. They call him Güero because of his red hair, pale skin, and freckles. Sometimes people only go off of what they see. Like the Mexican boxer Canelo Álvarez, twelve-year-old Güero is puro mexicano. He feels at home on both sides of the river, speaking Spanish or English. Güero is also a reader, gamer, and musician who runs with a squad of misfits called Los Bobbys. Together, they joke around and talk about their expanding world, which now includes girls. (Don’t cross Joanna—she's tough as nails.) Güero faces the start of seventh grade with heart and smarts, his family’s traditions, and his trusty accordion. And when life gets tough for this Mexican American border kid, he knows what to do: He writes poetry. Honoring multiple poetic traditions, They Call Me Güero is a classic in the making and the recipient of a Pura Belpré Honor, a Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award, a Claudia Lewis Award for Excellence in Poetry, and a Walter Dean Myers Honor.

After Dark

After Dark
Author: David L. Harrison
Publisher: Astra Publishing House
Total Pages: 34
Release: 2020-02-25
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1629797170

This collection of twenty-two poems explores the fascinating lives of North American nocturnal animals. When the sun goes down, many animals come out. Crickets chirp their crickety song hoping to attract a mate. Cougars bury their leftovers for later, leaving few clues for others to follow. Armadillos emerge from their dens to dig for worms, leaving holes in the lawns they disturb. This collection of poetry from acclaimed children's author and poet David L. Harrison explores the lives of animals who are awake after dark. Stephanie Laberis's beautifully atmospheric illustrations will draw in readers, and extensive back matter offers more information about each animal.