The poetry of Dan Vera is clear, strong, honest and funny. He's the sharp-eyed observer in the corner who doesn't say much, but makes every word count. He handles the political and the personal with equal grace, even as the lines blur. Dan Vera is damn good company. You'll see. Martín Espada This is what we first understood poetry to be, miraculous and humble. In the deepest part of the heart where we truly reside, there is always a wish that poetry will rinse off artifice. This is it. This is the most satisfying book of poems we can read if we want to witness language with a real poet as its servant. Grace Cavalieri Ranging through landscape and history, family legacy and gay life, Dan Vera's poems are melodic, lucid, and concise examinations of "the limits of earthly loving." They remind us of what blessings the world possesses and what flesh-hating forces endanger those delights. Jeff Mann

Winner of the inaugural Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize, Dan Vera's Speaking Wiri Wiri is a wry and insightful meditation on the lost history of Latinos in the United States, a lyric guidebook for navigating the complex realities of the contemporary Latino experience.

From tabloid exposes of child prostitution to the grisly tales of Jack the Ripper, narratives of sexual danger pulsated through Victorian London. Expertly blending social history and cultural criticism, Judith Walkowitz shows how these narratives reveal the complex dramas of power, politics, and sexuality that were being played out in late nineteenth-century Britain, and how they influenced the language of politics, journalism, and fiction. Victorian London was a world where long-standing traditions of class and gender were challenged by a range of public spectacles, mass media scandals, new commercial spaces, and a proliferation of new sexual categories and identities. In the midst of this changing culture, women of many classes challenged the traditional privileges of elite males and asserted their presence in the public domain. An important catalyst in this conflict, argues Walkowitz, was W. T. Stead's widely read 1885 article about child prostitution. Capitalizing on the uproar caused by the piece and the volatile political climate of the time, women spoke of sexual danger, articulating their own grievances against men, inserting themselves into the public discussion of sex to an unprecedented extent, and gaining new entree to public spaces and journalistic practices. The ultimate manifestation of class anxiety and gender antagonism came in 1888 with the tabloid tales of Jack the Ripper. In between, there were quotidien stories of sexual possibility and urban adventure, and Walkowitz examines them all, showing how women were not simply figures in the imaginary landscape of male spectators, but also central actors in the stories of metropolotin life that reverberated in courtrooms, learned journals, drawing rooms, street corners, and in the letters columns of the daily press. A model of cultural history, this ambitious book will stimulate and enlighten readers across a broad range of interests.

Ghost Fishing is the first anthology to focus solely on poetry with an eco-justice bent. A culturally diverse collection entering a field where nature poetry anthologies have historically lacked diversity, this book presents a rich terrain of contemporary environmental poetry with roots in many cultural traditions. Eco-justice poetry is poetry born of deep cultural attachment to the land and poetry born of crisis. Aligned with environmental justice activism and thought, eco-justice poetry defines environment as “the place we work, live, play, and worship.” This is a shift from romantic notions of nature as a pristine wilderness outside ourselves toward recognition of the environment as home: a source of life, health, and livelihood. Ghost Fishing is arranged by topic at key intersections between social justice and the environment such as exile, migration, and dispossession; war; food production; human relations to the animal world; natural resources and extraction; environmental disaster; and cultural resilience and resistance. This anthology seeks to expand our consciousness about the interrelated nature of our experiences and act as a starting point for conversation about the current state of our environment. Contributors include Homero Aridjis, Brenda Cárdenas, Natalie Diaz, Camille T. Dungy, Martín Espada, Ross Gay, Joy Harjo, Brenda Hillman, Linda Hogan, Philip Metres, Naomi Shihab Nye, Tolu Ogunlesi, Wang Ping, Patrick Rosal, Tim Seibles, Danez Smith, Arthur Sze, Eleanor Wilner, and Javier Zamora.

Editor Michael Montlack has assembled an anthology of a hundred gay poets--award winners and fresh voices--in thrall with female icons throughout the ages ranging from Gloria Swanson to Mary J, Blige, from Edith Piaf to Joni Mitchell, Bette Midler to Lady Gaga. These are not merely appreciations of the gorgeous and daring but poems that are confessional to bittersweet to witty.

"Gratitude Prayers is an uplifting collection of inspiring prayers, reflective poems, and motivating quotes that will open you to experience more joy and wonder in life. In this gracious anthology, June Cotner offers more than 100 motivational selections that remind you to embrace each and every day with abundance and thankfulness. Gratitude Prayers includes the voices of classic visionaries such as Rumi, Anne Frank, Walt Whitman and Helen Keller, whose words mingle eloquently alongside contemporary writers such as Michael S. Glaser and Barbara Crooker. The writers in this exuberant book share how to seek out tiny moments of joy, which will point the way toward finding the good in every situation."--Publisher.

A demon girl searches for love on Earth.

From bestselling author of The Book of Delights and award-winning poet, a book of lyrical mini-essays celebrating the everyday that will inspire readers to rediscover the joys in the world around us. In Ross Gay’s new collection of small, daily wonders, again written over the course of a year, one of America’s most original voices continues his ongoing investigation of delight. For Gay, what delights us is what connects us, what gives us meaning, from the joy of hearing a nostalgic song blasting from a passing car to the pleasure of refusing the “nefarious” scannable QR code menus, from the tiny dog he fell hard for to his mother baking a dozen kinds of cookies for her grandchildren. As always, Gay revels in the natural world—sweet potatoes being harvested, a hummingbird carousing in the beebalm, a sunflower growing out of a wall around the cemetery, the shared bounty from a neighbor’s fig tree—and the trillion mysterious ways this glorious earth delights us. The Book of (More) Delights is a volume to savor and share.

We live in two seemingly incompatible worlds—rational and spiritual. How can we keep our balance? Like the dolphin who exists in both water and air, so must we learn to live and thrive in two conflicting worlds—the rational, material, everyday craziness of life versus the still, spiritual soulfulness of our deepest selves. Balancing the two—difficult as it often can be—is the key to our spiritual survival. Through poignant stories, spiritual teaching and insights, Karyn Kedar shares with us the ways we can integrate the everyday—family, work, personal challenges—with our quest for deeper spiritual understanding. She helps us to decode the three “languages” we must learn to weave the seemingly ordinary and extraordinary together: Prayer—The path through which our souls connect with the Divine. Perspective—How we define life’s twists and turns, and how our words and actions define the quality of our lives. Meaning—The quest to understand and make sense of all that seems incompatible. In graceful ways, Kedar shows us that by realizing the connection between the ordinary and the awe-inspiring, we can synchronize our hearts with the ways of the world and live with joy, a sense of calm and greater purpose.

If youve ever wanted more in your life and didnt know where to begin, this book is for you. It challenges you to embark on a journey of discovery that, with awareness, will lead you to your dream life. With an engaging tone, Paula shares personal anecdotes, journal entries, and activities in each chapter to engage you in that process. A guide for intelligent people who require facts and documented evidence to explain The Law of Attraction, this insightful and sometimes humorous book will have you believing in magic. It will inspire you to peel back a lifetime of conditioning and, instead of settling for what is, believe you can achieve your goals and dreams.