The Norton Anthology of Poetry: Shorter Edition
from W. W. Norton & Company
Grand Mothers: Poems, Reminiscences, and Short Stories About The Keepers Of Our Traditions
from Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
I Am the Darker Brother: An Anthology of Modern Poems by African Americans
by Arnold Adoff
from Simon Pulse
The Space Between Our Footsteps
by Naomi Shihab Nye
from Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
"Poetry is a river / And solitude a bridge. / Through writing / We cross it, / Through reading / We Return." So writes Lebanese poet Kaissar Afif in Naomi Shihab Nye's aesthetically stunning anthology of poetry and paintings from the Middle East, The Space Between Our Footsteps. As Afif's poem beckons, so does Nye, inviting readers into a lush, vivid world in which more than 100 poets from 19 different Middle Eastern countries share their innermost feelings about place, family, war, and peace, scattered amid paintings reflecting pain, hope, and joy with rich, bold strokes.
Palestinian American poet, novelist, and anthologist Nye has made a name for herself with critically acclaimed books such as the autobiographical novel Habibi and the striking poetry collections This Same Sky and I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You. This anthology rivals her previous work in both beauty and inspiration, and was nominated by the Young Adult Library Services Association as one of 1998's Best Books for Young Adults.
But this collection is not for teens only. The personal yet universal sentiments expressed in these poems and paintings will pierce hearts of all ages--as in Sharif S. Elmusa's "But I Heard the Drops": "My father had a reservoir / of tears. / They trickled down / unseen. / But I heard the drops / drip/from his voice / like drops / from a loosened tap. / For thirty years I heard them." Notes on the contributors round out the collection and help bring footsteps a world apart just a little closer together. --Brangien Davis
Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing Up Hispanic in the United States (Edge Books)
from Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Latino Americans hail from Cuba and California, Mexico and Michigan, Nicaragua and New York, and editor Lori M. Carlson has made sure to capture all of those accents. With poets such as Sandra Cisneros, MartÃn Espada, Gary Soto, and Ed Vega, and a very personal introduction by Oscar Hijuelos, this collection encompasses the voices of Latino America. By selecting poems about the experiences of teenagers, Carlson has given a focus to that rich diversity; by presenting the poems both in their original language and in translation, she has made them available to us all.
As you move from memories of red wagons, to dreams of orange trees, to fights with street gangs, you feel Cool Salsa's musical and emotional cross rhythms. Here is a world of exciting poetry for you, y tú también.
Earth-Shattering Poems
from Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Poems are earth-shattering when, as Emily Dickinson put it, "I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off." Liz Rosenberg has selected poems of passion and yearning, of birth and death that do just that: they hurt, but they also heal. For, over and over, the poets return to love, the mysterious, perhaps limitless feeling that binds us to the earth and may lead us beyond.
As Galway Kinnell tells it, "The wages of dying is love." The reward of reading great poetry is a form of love, too, and this collection is a chance to feel that, again and again.
The Invisible Ladder: An Anthology of Contemporary American Poems for Young Readers
from Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
waiting for sausages and hot dogs
..........
I see a tiny spider
..........
a silver speck
glistening
at its mouth,
climbing the invisible ladder
--from "Dinner Together" by Diana Rivera
This anthology of poems by America's best poets glistens too, and offers its own silvery ladder for readers to climb.
Liz Rosenberg, herself an accomplished poet, wanted to make contemporary poems for adults accessible to a broader readership. She searched for works which, in both feeling and expression, could reach from one age group to another. Then she asked the poets to write about the links between poetry and childhood, and to send photos that showed how they looked when they were young, and who they are today.
The Invisible Ladder is a gift from everyone who contributed to it: a hand extended from those whose art is crafting words to a new generation of readers and writers.
Room Enough for Love
by Ralph Fletcher
from Aladdin
"A month ago/ in biology lab/ you sat close to me/ knee touching mine/ your sweet smell/ almost drowning out/ the formaldehyde stink...." Sound familiar? Ralph Fletcher's poems perfectly capture the intensity of teenage love--the thrills, the heartbreak, and the healing--taking place in everyday locales like the classroom, an aunt's house, the prom, and the beach. Room Enough for Love is a compilation of the complete poems from Fletcher's critically acclaimed volumes I Am Wings and Buried Alive. Exploring the many facets of falling in love, falling out of love, and love itself, Fletcher reveals a keen understanding of the peaks and valleys of romance and attachment. It is his use of language that is perhaps most remarkable, precisely because it is so understated and vernacular ("This is not a love poem no way/ you need big words for that/ like 'luminous' and 'eternity' "). With his understanding that small words do not translate to small emotions, Fletcher offers teens a book of poetry that speaks directly to them. (Ages 12-15) --Brangien Davis
Beat Voices: An Anthology of Beat Poetry
by David Kherdian
from HarperTrophy
A collection for young people of some of the best work of iconoclasts like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, poems that shook the conservative 1950s.
Listen Up!
by Zoe Angelsey
from One World/Ballantine
"Today, the poetry scene flourishes at New York open-mic spots like the Nuyorican Poets Café, Brooklyn's YWCA Tea Party and Harlem's Sugar Shack. Progeny of hip poets--the Beats of the 50s and protest poets of the 60s and 70s--these up-and-coming literati cast their diverse spells of word beats inspiring young contemporaries in Cleveland, Ohio, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta; later branching out internationally to poetry circuit venues in Tokyo, Rio de Janiero, London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Istanbul."
--Zoë Anglesey
  Editor, Listen Up!
Spoken word poetry is a cross-cultural phenomenon. Here for the first time in one hot volume are poems from the nation's top spoken word artists. Listen Up! features nine brilliant award-winning scribes who have ignited audiences worldwide with their soulful verse, bold alliterations, and sultry fusion of rhythm and rhyme--electrifying audiences as they chant, sing, recite, and improvise their poetry and powerful point of view.
Among these nine literary luminaries are Carl Hancock Rux, named by The New York Times as one of thirty young artists "most likely to change the culture in the next thirty years"; Jessica Care Moore, a record-breaking five-time winner of the Apollo competition; and Saul Williams, co-scriptwriter and star of the feature film Slam, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the prestigious Camera D'Or at Cannes.
Packed with penetrating interviews on the craft of writing poetry, insight into the art of performance, and on-target, off-guard photos of the poets in action at history-making poetry slams, this unforgettable collection is the next best thing to being there live.
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