Collection of 101 poems written over a span of twenty years. Poem Chapters: Heroes, History & Me, Faith, Patterns, Blues & Country, Days of Music, Occupation, Relationships, Nature & Places, Appalachian Trail, The Dark Side, Love, Nonsense. Sample Poems: Godda be Like God, United States of Paradox, Prince of Peace, Cabernet Sauvignon, The Hominoid that Got Lucky, Catoctin to Katahdin, Love is a Four Letter Verb, Mathematical Love, Don't Let my Willie, Why do Men have Nipples? Poetry and music are like Laurel and Hardy, a sharp razor and a hairy back. They can survive on their own but do much better with the other one makin' sure they come back for more. Some people like to smoke cigars in the free lane. I like to smoke and inhale Mark Twain. Everythin' comes down to one, but what is the one, is it the Son or a one-celled paramecium? Could God have created a common duality to test our partiality and unsettled sensuality? Let down your right guard and think about that one real hard.

Collection of another 101 poems written in 2007. Some people live in the material world while others live in the spiritual world. Some people like to mix their drinks with coke and whiskey. I like to mix mine with faith and science. This collection of poemplanations, the convergence of poems with explanations and mixed rice, is my Lithuanian wall banger on ice.

Poems are a window to your soul. They are a checkpoint to see if you have any senses left. This book completes the trilogy and the rest is history. During the course of 2008 and 2009, cycles of change were all about. I examined the past, present and future and I believe I have created a new stir. Time and space, love and gravity converged and this book of poems emerged. Enjoy.

Every journey starts with a first step, a second step and sometimes followed by a lot of prep. Hopefully this leads to a third step and many future accomplishments. Our lives have many cycles; right, wrong or indifferent, these poems categorize them into hills, ravines, ditches and mountains. Your first mountain starts at conception and generally takes a breaking point after high school or some form of higher education or armed services. Your second mountain typically lasts the longest. It consists of those working years and can span until your retirement. Marriage, house hunting and children sometimes get entwined into those productive years. Somewhere around 50 years old, sometimes later, one starts to navigate up the third mountain. Your most productive years are behind you and you ponder how do I make a difference when the dash is over on this sphere.

The story about Johnny North, a high school senior from Anchorage, Alaska and the vicissitudes that have been special delivered from the 98.6% parallel Oh Henry galaxy. The Dang family of Pennsylvania discovers Johnny in their barn and reveals to him that serendipity is alive and well on Planet Three. Various topics of faith, adventure, occupation, relationships and science get sprinkled with relevant music and poetry. To Johnny North, Dang Valley has the mixed-up ingredients of the Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Mr. Ed, Huckleberry Finn and Woodstock shoved into a blender where the only item left spinning is the maelstrom of life. George Dang, the old patriarch in town, helps entwine all the little stories into the big stories of consciousness and existence. Who better than Mark Twain to begin each chapter with an anecdote from the past to enlighten the present. Sometimes it is best to enjoy the ride from the outside and march fourth with twenty-twenty vision.

From Simon & Schuster, in its ninth year, The Best American Poetry 1996 is universally acclaimed as the best anthology in the field. The compilation includes a diverse abundance of poems published in 1995 in more than 40 publications ranging from The New Yorker to The Paris Review to Bamboo Ridge.

New York Times Bestseller and winner of the Carnegie Medal! "Masterfully crafted"—The Wall Street Journal For readers of Between Shades of Gray and All the Light We Cannot See, Ruta Sepetys returns to WWII in this epic novel that shines a light on one of the war's most devastating—yet unknown—tragedies. World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, many with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer to safety. Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people—adults and children alike—aboard must fight for the same thing: survival. Told in alternating points of view and perfect for fans of Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer Prize-winning All the Light We Cannot See, Erik Larson's Dead Wake, and Elizabeth Wein's Printz Honor Book Code Name Verity, this masterful work of historical fiction is inspired by the real-life tragedy that was the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff—the greatest maritime disaster in history. As she did in Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys unearths a shockingly little-known casualty of a gruesome war, and proves that humanity and love can prevail, even in the darkest of hours. Praise for Salt to the Sea: Featured on NPR's Morning Edition ♦ "Superlative...masterfully crafted...[a] powerful work of historical fiction."—The Wall Street Journal ♦ "[Sepetys is] a master of YA fiction…she once again anchors a panoramic view of epic tragedy in perspectives that feel deeply textured and immediate."—Entertainment Weekly ♦ "Riveting...powerful...haunting."—The Washington Post ♦ "Compelling for both adult and teenage readers."—New York Times Book Review ♦ "Intimate, extraordinary, artfully crafted...brilliant."—Shelf Awareness ♦ "Historical fiction at its very, very best."—The Globe and Mail ♦ "[H]aunting, heartbreaking, hopeful and altogether gorgeous...one of the best young-adult novels to appear in a very long time."—Salt Lake Tribune ♦ *"This haunting gem of a novel begs to be remembered."—Booklist ♦ *"Artfully told and sensitively crafted...will leave readers weeping."—School Library Journal ♦ A PW and SLJ 2016 Book of the Year Praise for Between Shades of Gray: A New York Times Notable Book ♦ A Wall Street Journal Best Children’s Book ♦ A PW, SLJ, Booklist, and Kirkus Best Book ♦ iTunes 2011 Rewind Best Teen Novel ♦ A Carnegie Medal and William C. Morris Finalist ♦ A New York Times and International Bestseller ♦ "Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this novel is both."—The Washington Post ♦ *"[A]n important book that deserves the widest possible readership."—Booklist

A vibrant new collection from one of America's most talented young poets Every Riven Thing is Christian Wiman's first collection in seven years, and rarely has a book of poetry so borne the stamp of necessity. Whether in stark, haiku-like descriptions of a cancer ward, surrealistic depictions of a social order coming apart, or fluent, defiant outpourings of praise, Wiman pushes his language and forms until they break open, revealing startling new truths within. The poems are joyful and sorrowful at the same time, abrasive and beautiful, densely physical and credibly mystical. They attest to the human hunger to feel existence, even at its most harrowing, and the power of art to make our most intense experiences not only apprehensible but transfiguring.

From a "born storyteller" (Seattle Times), this playful and moving bestselling book of essays invites us into the miraculous and transcendent moments of everyday life. When Brian Doyle passed away at the age of sixty after a bout with brain cancer, he left behind a cult-like following of devoted readers who regard his writing as one of the best-kept secrets of the twenty-first century. Doyle writes with a delightful sense of wonder about the sanctity of everyday things, and about love and connection in all their forms: spiritual love, brotherly love, romantic love, and even the love of a nine-foot sturgeon. At a moment when the world can sometimes feel darker than ever, Doyle's writing, which constantly evokes the humor and even bliss that life affords, is a balm. His essays manage to find, again and again, exquisite beauty in the quotidian, whether it's the awe of a child the first time she hears a river, or a husband's whiskers that a grieving widow misses seeing in her sink every morning. Through Doyle's eyes, nothing is dull. David James Duncan sums up Doyle's sensibilities best in his introduction to the collection: "Brian Doyle lived the pleasure of bearing daily witness to quiet glories hidden in people, places and creatures of little or no size, renown, or commercial value, and he brought inimitably playful or soaring or aching or heartfelt language to his tellings." A life's work, One Long River of Song invites readers to experience joy and wonder in ordinary moments that become, under Doyle's rapturous and exuberant gaze, extraordinary.