Religious Poetry

Rev. Dennis McCarty, a retired Unitarian Universalist minister, has long posted on his "Thoughts from a Gentle Atheist" social media page. This gradually attracted a wide following, and requests that he issue his "thoughts" in book form. He has now revised, expanded, and cross-referenced that original Thoughts from a General Atheist collection, for use in putting together non-theistic Unitarian Universalist religious services. "Gentle atheist" though he is, Rev. McCarty produces Opening Words, Chalice Lightings, Offertory introductions, Closing Words--and more general readings--which even a...

A beautifully raw and poignant collection of poetry and prose, Pillow Thoughts III continues the series from poet Courtney Peppernell. Fix yourself a warm drink and settle into Peppernell's words as she pens a tribute to her fans who are bravely continuing their journey from hurt to healing.

Christina Rossetti’s poetry has never disappeared from view. Critical interest in her poetry swelled in the final decades of the twentieth century, a resurgence largely impelled by the emergence of feminist criticism; much of this commentary focuses on gender issues in her poetry and on Rossetti as a woman poet. Collected here are 16 of her most beautiful, haunting, and renowned poems.

Hace mucho, mucho tiempo, en un lugar muy muy lejano Un gran barco pirata salió a navegar un día temprano, Llevaba sacos de plata y oro que valían mucho dinero, Y tres piratas malvados, fuertes y de carácter aventurero.

Sleep. That most mysterious of times. The unconscious hours. Everyone needs it. Sleep offers a respite from the rigors and challenges of the day - a chance for the brain to process what has happened and bring rest and recuperation before the cycle of daytime activity begins again. Our poets, from Kipling and Swinburne through Hafiz, James Joyce, Edgar Allan Poe and a pillowful of others, explore the wish to rest, to close the eyes and reside in the land of nod.

Over the past two decades, Jessica Care moore has become a cultural force as a poet, performer, publisher, activist, and critic. Reflecting her transcendent electric voice, this searing poetry collection is filled with moving, original stanzas that speak to both Black women’s creative and intellectual power, and express the pain, sadness, and anger of those who suffer constant scrutiny because of their gender and race.

Johanna Ilg has lived her entire life in Main Amana, one of the seven villages inhabited by devout Christians who believe in cooperative living, a simple lifestyle, and faithful service to God. Although she's always longed to see the outside world, Johanna believes her future is rooted in the community. But when she learns a troubling secret, the world she thought she knew is shattered and she is forced to make difficult choices about a new life and the man she left behind.

These poems pause for the spectacle - cloning technologies, super-slo-mo photography, narcotic cab rides - to describe a system of tripwires, pitfalls, and decoys that the notion of daily viewership entails. These poems are paeans to our facility for duplicity and self-deception, in which the act of living is like a movie we're not in.

DEFG is Volume 2 of The Alphabet Soup series by Aaron LaLux, the creator of Circular Pop Poetry—a style that blends rhythm, insight, and relevance into something entirely its own. This collection invites you to explore the raw, tangled threads of life, where meaning is found not in neat answers, but in the complexities that weave us together. From Dalai Lama Spaceship to Gypsy Friends & Fig Leaves, LaLux creates 100 poems that pulse with emotion and thought.

“Some girls are not made,” torrin a. greathouse writes, “but spring from the dirt.” Guided by a devastatingly precise hand, Wound from the Mouth of a Wound—selected by Aimee Nezhukumatathil as the winner of the 2020 Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry—challenges a canon that decides what shades of beauty deserve to live in a poem. greathouse celebrates “buckteeth & ulcer.” She odes the pulp of a bedsore. She argues that the vestigial is not devoid of meaning, and in kinetic and vigorous language, she honors bodies the world too often wants dead.

Mette Harrison’s Book of Laman is not funny. It doesn’t use intentional archaisms to make fun of the Book of Mormon’s language; rather, it tells its story in a non-distracting modern style. The characters are not simply reversed. Nephi is sometimes an annoying brat, but he is also a real prophet who sees and speaks for the Lord. Laman is neither a comic book villain nor a long-suffering ironist. He is a flawed human being struggling to live well and usually coming up short. And in some of the book’s very best scenes, he is touched unexpectedly by grace and God.

In Letters to My Daughters: Poetic Affirmations of Love From A Father, Avery Washington affirms his adoration and appreciation for his daughters in an incredibly endearing and empowering way. His poems flow from the heart of a protective father to the soul of a young girl who is learning herself and finding her way in the world.

Who will be the next bishop of Lindchester? That's what everyone's been asking since bishop Paul Henderson resigned in haste and a whiff of scandal. Unseen Things Above rejoins our friends in the diocese as they address themselves to the labyrinthine process of appointing his replacement.

In these captivating pages of "Listen Linda presents: The Women of the Waiting Room, Volume 2" , author Jacquiline Cox, known as Listen Linda, takes readers on an extraordinary journey of faith, resilience, and divine inspiration. This is the second volume to the #1 Amazon International Best-Seller, Listen Linda presents... The Women of the Waiting Room Anthology.

Author of Sutter's Cross, a Booklist Top Pick, W. Dale Cramer evokes the ambiance of a small Southern town in this inspiring novel. Jeremy's mother has passed away, leaving him with an odd request. He is to find his Uncle Aiden, a hardrock miner, and stay with him, regardless of Aiden's wishes. Jeremy's faith in God gives him the courage to find the humanity behind this tough-as-steel man.

Originally published in 1954 to honor Stevens’ 57th birthday, the book was rushed into print for the occasion and contained scores of errors. These have now been corrected in one place for the first time by Stevens scholars John N. Serio and Christopher Beyers, based on original editions and manuscripts. The Collected Poems is the one volume that Stevens intended to contain all the poems he wished to preserve, presented in the way he wanted. It is an enduring monument to his dazzling achievement.

For the past decade, Lemn Sissay has composed a short poem as dawn breaks each morning. Life-affirming, witty and full of wonder, these poems chronicle his own battle with the dark and are fuelled by resilience and defiant joy. Let the Light Pour In is a collection of the best of these poems, and a book celebrating this morning practice.

La poesía es la forma más bella de la expresión literaria. Sus infinitas posibilidades de transmitir sentimientos han provocado que grandes autores dedicaran una buena parte de su obra al cultivo de este género, que por otro lado, cuenta con una serie de normas y estilos definidos y por todos respetados.

When acknowledging what it is you love and then pursuing it, you can stand firm and know that “no weapon formed of man” will ever prosper. Growth is realizing that sometimes that weapon against you...is you! Your mind-set could be your biggest ally or worst enemy. The choice is yours. This book's aim is to highlight the importance of getting out of your own way and sticking to a plan through lenses of growth and vulnerability.

In The Rose, award-winning poet Ariana Reines navigates the intersection of power and surrender. Drawing on the history of "romance" as the troubadours knew it and the titular flower's ancient allegories for sexuality and mystery, Reines plunges into feminine archetypes to explore masculine pain: "I have always liked helpless / & terrible men because they break my mind."