Poems That Propel the Planet - Book Review

Prolific and Prophetic Poems to Revolutionize Your World

The love of people must surpass our love of power. We must remember we are all interrelated and interconnected as one. None of us are as strong as all of us. Together we all accomplish more. Divided we fall apart and destroy ourselves.

There is nothing new under the sun. Wars have been fought throughout time. Peacemakers however who transcended the killing instinct and unified people have proven to be timeless. Their words still speak to us today providing wisdom and guidance.

Love for humanity moved great liberators, reformers, and pioneers throughout history. Much can be learned from them. In a world where competition and negativity thrive, we need fresh inspiration to empower us. Where consumerism, consumption, and corporation nation have captivated us, we need truth to cut us free.

Geopolitically the self-willed foreign policy of nations has caused much evil. The American way has led to unnecessary deaths throughout the globe. It is time politicians seek the global good rather than plundering the planet for petrodollars and arms contracts.

The power of disagreement provides enlightenment, while challenging our ideological orbit. When ultimatums replace options and alternatives, the power of diplomacy is severed along with our international influence. Constructive dialogue however paves the way for reconciliation and peaceable conflict resolution.

Military invasion and occupation creates rather than eliminates terrorism. Militaristic campaigns never win the battle for the hearts and minds of humanity, neither do they provide for posterity a meaningful legacy. Love, liberation, and reconciliation is what the world needs.

Paul Davis is a worldwide minister and peacemaker. Paul's compassion for people & passion to travel has taken him to over 50 countries of the world where he has had a tremendous impact. Paul builds dreams, breaks limitations, and reconciles nations.

Dread -by Ai - Book Review

I don't know the exact reason why I picked up this book, for the poet or for her poems, because both are fascinating. One is a human being who, through pain and life, has evolved into a person with piercing insight; the other is her work, consisting of dramatic monologues as she calls them.

While most of the poetry in the book reflects Ai's pain, Ai's poems in Dread are character sketches caught in the violence of the world; although, the poems are not sketches at all, but they show the poet's view of living through other peoples' eyes while feeling their pain, fully. Through her characters, Ai's poetry arrives at deep but disturbing universal truths.

The title of the book gets its name from the first poem "Dread" portraying a woman officer whose brother disappeared in the World Trade Center disaster. The other characters she mentions range from her own great great grandfather to journalists, to detectives, and to people in history like Jimmy Hoffa, Custer, J. Edgar Hoover, and others.

It is quite impossible to quote from the poems of Ai, because each poem is a solid rock and it can't be chipped away. Most, in one way or the other, reflect the trauma of living in a brutal world. The ones who have passed away are given a place, also, with a genuine quality, like the dead sister in "Delusion."

Ai talks to the world with vitality, and through her characters' voices, re-produces their miseries and penetrates into their cores as she lets the readers have a peek at her own insides. Whether John F. Kennedy Junior speaks from beyond the grave or a grandfather commits incest, we as readers are made to feel the sting of personal or collective ordeals, savage and vicious in nature.

Ai's own history, too, is presented in her poetry, especially in "Relativity." From the circumstances of her birth and who her parents are to other events in her life, we bear witness to the poet's moral and emotional strength, because her wounds become our wounds while we absorb her poetry.

The poet, Ai, was born in Albany Texas in 1947. Her birth name was Florence Anthony. She took the name Ai legally later, Ai meaning love, in Japanese. Ai grew up in Tucson, and in Las Vegas and San Francisco. She, then, majored in Japanese at the University of Arizona. She has an MFA from UC at Irvine, and she now teaches at Oklahoma State University.

Her other books are: Vice (1999), which won the National Book Award for Poetry; Greed (1993); Fate (1991); Sin (1986), which won an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation; Killing Floor (1979), which was the 1978 Lamont Poetry Award of the Academy of American Poets; and Cruelty (1973).

"Dread" is in hardcover in 128 pages with ISBN-10: 0393041433 and ISBN-13: 978-0393041439.

Dread is an important poetry book, poignant and eye-opening; although, it may be disquieting at the same time.

The Hushed Willow - A Review

The Hushed Willow by Lorna Joy Knox nee Ramsamugh is a collection of poetry that will stir your emotions as you embark on a rollercoaster ride through life. As the title suggests the poetry contained in The Hushed Willow is that of emotions and feelings that are kept silent, feelings of sadness, loss, betrayal and hurt. The author has an exceptional gift of portraying such vivid emotions in such few words and is a joy to read. The words of her poetry flow together so gracefully with images from nature jumping up to meet you as you read.

This book takes us through the many adventures of life and recalls a multitude of emotions on its way. Lorna Knox is an extremely talented poet who endeavours to portray so much in so few words. Lorna uses modern free style poetry but maintains the constant rhythm necessary for great poetry.

Containing so many wonderful works of poetry it is quite difficult to choose a favourite or even favourites, however, one poem that really grabbed my attention was "Despair", this poem contains very powerful emotions especially those in the second verse as the poet describes love as a dream. I was also really taken by the poem "Magic", a short and uplifting collection of words where I found myself smiling as I reached the end. The last two lines of this poem really help to sum up this feeling - "To sit among a band, That will soothe me into never, never land."

At the end of this wonderful collection of poetry, Ms. Knox has concluded by giving us a taste of her other skills by including a short story titled "Bound in Friendship --- The Story of Two Friends". A remarkable story, well written that tests the boundaries of friendship in a light romantic story.

The Hushed Willow is a must for anyone with lust for poetry. There is a poem for everyone in this book, if you've lived at all you will definitely find a poem to relate to.

Lorna Joy Knox nee Ramsamugh is also the author of "Flames of a Rose" which can be purchased from all major bookstores including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Book Release: Gina's Poems - Adventures in Love

Book Release:

Gina's Poems -- Adventures in Love Written & illustrated by Siegfried J. Heger

ISBN 0-9763503-0-0 Perfect Bound, 72 pages, (8.5"x 7" x ¼")

Contact: Dolores Gaines, YOSOY Publishing, 562-989-2901

e-mail info@yosoypublishing.com

Poetry and Photography Merge in Siegfried Heger's Gina's Poems

Gina's Poems explore love, doubt, fear, hope, elation, belief, faith and knowing; the result of three years of Siegfried J. Heger writing a poem to his wife almost every day, and illustrating each with a picture. Gina's Poems captures the essence of their relationship and journey through life in Los Angeles, touching their innermost thoughts and feelings.

Heger leads off by establishing the notion that we have already found "The Beach" however, because we are so busy looking for it, we cannot see it right in front of us. "Love is Giving" sends the message that we will receive what we give. If we want to be loved we have to love, if we want to receive a hug, we have to hug, if we want to have good friends we have to be a good friend. Set to a vibrant picture of a sunflower, the image and message has substance and beauty.

"Moment by Moment" tells the story of the past and future in which most of us live, where we are busy looking for what we missed in the past, or fearing what we will miss in the future. With all this looking we unfortunately miss the now, or what Siegfried calls the "bliss."

"Your Fellow Men" tells of our fear to connect to each other. "Let them touch you, not just see you, let them in you without warning" is about openness, receptiveness and connectedness to all the other beings in this world.

http://www.ginaspoems.com

For photos or more information, please contact: Dolores Gaines, YOSOY Publishing, Public Relations e-mail info@yosoypublishing.com or call 562-989-2901

The Hushed Willow - A Review

The Hushed Willow by Lorna Joy Knox nee Ramsamugh is a collection of poetry that will stir your emotions as you embark on a rollercoaster ride through life. As the title suggests the poetry contained in The Hushed Willow is that of emotions and feelings that are kept silent, feelings of sadness, loss, betrayal and hurt. The author has an exceptional gift of portraying such vivid emotions in such few words and is a joy to read. The words of her poetry flow together so gracefully with images from nature jumping up to meet you as you read.

This book takes us through the many adventures of life and recalls a multitude of emotions on its way. Lorna Knox is an extremely talented poet who endeavours to portray so much in so few words. Lorna uses modern free style poetry but maintains the constant rhythm necessary for great poetry.

Containing so many wonderful works of poetry it is quite difficult to choose a favourite or even favourites, however, one poem that really grabbed my attention was "Despair", this poem contains very powerful emotions especially those in the second verse as the poet describes love as a dream. I was also really taken by the poem "Magic", a short and uplifting collection of words where I found myself smiling as I reached the end. The last two lines of this poem really help to sum up this feeling - "To sit among a band, That will soothe me into never, never land."

At the end of this wonderful collection of poetry, Ms. Knox has concluded by giving us a taste of her other skills by including a short story titled "Bound in Friendship --- The Story of Two Friends". A remarkable story, well written that tests the boundaries of friendship in a light romantic story.

The Hushed Willow is a must for anyone with lust for poetry. There is a poem for everyone in this book, if you've lived at all you will definitely find a poem to relate to.

Lorna Joy Knox nee Ramsamugh is also the author of "Flames of a Rose" which can be purchased from all major bookstores including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Book Release: Gina's Poems - Adventures in Love

Book Release:

Gina's Poems -- Adventures in Love Written & illustrated by Siegfried J. Heger

ISBN 0-9763503-0-0 Perfect Bound, 72 pages, (8.5"x 7" x ¼")

Contact: Dolores Gaines, YOSOY Publishing, 562-989-2901

e-mail info@yosoypublishing.com

Poetry and Photography Merge in Siegfried Heger's Gina's Poems

Gina's Poems explore love, doubt, fear, hope, elation, belief, faith and knowing; the result of three years of Siegfried J. Heger writing a poem to his wife almost every day, and illustrating each with a picture. Gina's Poems captures the essence of their relationship and journey through life in Los Angeles, touching their innermost thoughts and feelings.

Heger leads off by establishing the notion that we have already found "The Beach" however, because we are so busy looking for it, we cannot see it right in front of us. "Love is Giving" sends the message that we will receive what we give. If we want to be loved we have to love, if we want to receive a hug, we have to hug, if we want to have good friends we have to be a good friend. Set to a vibrant picture of a sunflower, the image and message has substance and beauty.

"Moment by Moment" tells the story of the past and future in which most of us live, where we are busy looking for what we missed in the past, or fearing what we will miss in the future. With all this looking we unfortunately miss the now, or what Siegfried calls the "bliss."

"Your Fellow Men" tells of our fear to connect to each other. "Let them touch you, not just see you, let them in you without warning" is about openness, receptiveness and connectedness to all the other beings in this world.

http://www.ginaspoems.com

For photos or more information, please contact: Dolores Gaines, YOSOY Publishing, Public Relations e-mail info@yosoypublishing.com or call 562-989-2901