While describing a descent into addiction, suicide attempts, and self-mutilation, Nancy K. Pearson is a foil to her own self-harm through the very act of writing. In her debut poetry collection TWO MINUTES OF LIGHT, creativity becomes an antidote to destructiveness. IN TWO MINUTES OF LIGHT, Nancy K. Pearson writes about a descent into the madness of addiction and suicide attempts, and the foil to self-destruction is art itself--finding small beauty in unlikely places and transforming it into poetry. With stunning imagination, acute mindfulness, spunk, and not an ounce of sentimentality or gratuitousness, Pearson mines her despair for "minutes of light" that provide rungs toward a more livable life. While immersed in the bleak world of psychiatric wards and crack motels, the poet, almost unnervingly, writes about sea grass, milkweed, ghost crabs, and wild lilies in a way that lifts the reader back to a place of connection, like holding hands with a stranger. Pearson's genius is her ironic voice, the immediacy of her images, and her fearless attitude. What is creativity if not the antidote to destructiveness? "These poems remind me of collecting stones while walking, each one leading the way to a house in the forest. I want to say they spell redemption, but the forest has its own kind of talking and what's extraordinary about this extraordinary book is how that world -- tree, insect, rain, fish, flower, bird -- has its saying and song too. I've never seen the world of human trauma and recovery set in what we call 'the natural world, ' mediated by the human gaze, yes, and so blessedly indifferent to us. I read this book over and over again."--Marie Howe "Nancy Pearson's poems are rife with the urgencies of constructing a self. It is a harrowing, hard-fought project. As one poem asks, 'By what small margins do we survive?' This is a book fiercely in love with the world, a book that unflinchingly examines what can keep someone from inhabiting that world, whole. Two Minutes of Light is a startling, luminous, and moving first collection."--Kim Addonizio "In Two Minutes of Light, Nancy K. Pearson invents visceral, exciting language to enact redemption with stunning clarity. In Pearson's world, there is no sentimentality to redemption, no fear of the negative. She doesn't let absolutes do the work. As with Dante, the voice changes as it travels from hell to the scary possibility of happiness. But there's no urge to create a model, a template for behavior. Pearson works in the moment, with a keen ear and a live, fluid line. I think of the Arab poet who said he would not trade his moment of mortality for God's omniscience. Two Minutes of Light is a dazzling voyage."--D. Nurske Poetry. LGBTQ+ Studies. Women's Studies.

This work is the first academic biography of North Carolina poet laureate James Larkin Pearson (1879-1981). Using material from Pearson’s personal archive in Wilkes County, from the North Carolina Collection and the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and from contemporary examinations of his life and work, this study offers deeply personal insights into his life and provides extensive examinations of his hopes, joys, fears, pains, and sorrows. The work also includes lengthy studies of his poetry and his journalistic efforts and examines their place within the larger cultural milieu. In the process, the book addresses two themes that become apparent in Pearson’s life and work: his Tar Heel spirit and his individualism. He was a fighter who overcame poverty, a poor education, personal tragedies, and professional neglect to achieve great success. He also abided by his own set of religious, artistic, and political values regardless of the consequences. This work thus offers the first personal and professional examination of James Larkin Pearson, provides insights on North Carolina and its people, and examines the benefits and drawbacks of following one’s own path.

This beautifully illustrated popular poem about that tender moment when a parent looks into their baby’s eyes for the first time is the perfect gift book for new parents, and it will be read many times to that beloved baby. Beloved author of The Lesson, Will You Still Be My Daughter, and I’ll Walk with You, Carol Lynn Pearson is known for her tender and heartfelt stories. Her newest book, illustrating her poem titled Day-Old Child, will enchant adults and children alike. Observe the moment of utter joy when a parent first looks into their newborn baby’s eyes or embraces that first snuggle. Captured with endearing illustrations and representing parents from all walks of life, Day-Old Child reminds us of our closeness to God, whether we’re long in the tooth or brand new to the world. Carol Lynn Pearson has been a professional writer, speaker, and performer for many years. In addition to her volumes of poetry, she is well known for such books as The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy; her memoir Goodbye, I Love You; Consider the Butterfly, which was a finalist in the inspiration/spiritual category of the 2002 Independent Publishers Book Awards; and a series of inspirational books that began with The Lesson. Carol Lynn has been a guest on such programs as The Oprah Winfrey Show and Good Morning, America and has been featured in People magazine. She has a master of arts in theater, is the mother of four grown children, and lives in Northern California. Visit her at www.carollynnpearson.com. Corey Egbert is a freelance illustrator and the author of If Dinosaurs Could Talk for Me. He grew up in California and Utah, received his BA from Southern Virginia University, and is currently pursuing an MFA in illustration from Syracuse University in New York. He lives in Virginia with his wife, son, and two cats.

Containing more than three hundred poems, including nearly a hundred previously unpublished works, this unique collection showcases the intellectual range of Claude McKay (1889-1948), the Jamaican-born poet and novelist whose life and work were marked by restless travel and steadfast social protest. McKay's first poems were composed in rural Jamaican creole and launched his lifelong commitment to representing everyday black culture from the bottom up. Migrating to New York, he reinvigorated the English sonnet and helped spark the Harlem Renaissance with poems such as "If We Must Die." After coming under scrutiny for his communism, he traveled throughout Europe and North Africa for twelve years and returned to Harlem in 1934, having denounced Stalin's Soviet Union. By then, McKay's pristine "violent sonnets" were giving way to confessional lyrics informed by his newfound Catholicism. McKay's verse eludes easy definition, yet this complete anthology, vividly introduced and carefully annotated by William J. Maxwell, acquaints readers with the full transnational evolution of a major voice in twentieth-century poetry.

Vol. 49, no. 9 (Sept. 1922) accompanied by a separately paged section entitled ERA; electronic reations of Abrams.

Honoring the female part of the divine, from a refreshingly modern perspective. Call Her Goddess--call her God the Mother--call her the Feminine Principle--Her children need Her, and our world deeply suffers the pains of Her absence. Through the warmth and the wit of poetry, this book is an invitation for all--women, men, of any religion or of no religion--to welcome Her home and set a permanent place for Her at the family table. Carol Lynn Pearson's poetry are accessible, thoughtful, and thought-provoking--the perfect balance of wisdom, humility, and humor. Carol Lynn Pearson has been a professional writer, speaker, and performer for many years. In addition to her volumes of poetry, she is well known for such books as The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy; Goodbye, I Love You, her autobiography; Consider the Butterfly, which was a finalist in the inspiration/spiritual category of the 2002 Independent Publishers Book Awards; and a series of inspirational books that began with The Lesson. Carol Lynn has been a guest on such programs as The Oprah Winfrey Show and Good Morning, America and has been featured in People magazine. She has a master of arts in theater, is the mother of four grown children, and lives in Walnut Creek, California. You can visit her at www.clpearson.com.

The memoirs of James Larkin Pearson (1879-1981), the second Poet Laureate of North Carolina. Born in a crude cabin atop Wilkes County's Berry Mountain, James Larkin Pearson was determined to become a poet. He had little formal education, and spent his early years in farming and carpentry. Pearson said he "Worked on the farm till I was 21 years old. Many of my poems were composed as I went about my work on the farm. I always carried my notebook and pencil to the field with me, and as I trudged between the plow-handles in the hot sunshine, my mind was busy working out a poem."In addition to his poetry, Mr. Pearson published The Fool-Killer a successful newspaper that acquired a circulation of some 5,000 readers.On August 4, 1953, Governor William B. Umstead appointed Pearson as the North Carolina Poet Laureate of the State. He held this post until his death, on August 27, 1981.