{"title":"The Poetry Box","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"squannacook-at-dawn","title":"Squannacook at Dawn","description":"First Place Winner of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize 2023\u003cp\u003eThe poems in \u003cem\u003eThe Squannacook at Dawn\u003c\/em\u003e range from formal verse to free verse to prose poetry and are linked by the speaker's experiences with water. While many of the poems revolve around fishing, they also explore the speaker's relationship with the loss of his father, the peace of the natural world, aging, environmental change, and spirituality.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eComments from Contest Judge, Andrea Hollander: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach of the twenty poems that comprise \u003cem\u003eThe Squannacook at Dawn\u003c\/em\u003e is so well crafted that the art is all readers experience, the craft a scaffolding that has been removed. Each poem begins with a sense of welcome and closes unpredictably, yet inevitably (i.e., no better ending seems possible). This is high praise, but it's not my only reason for selecting this manuscript as winner of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize for 2023. Read together and in the order they appear in the collection, these twenty poems create what feels like a twenty-first poem: the chapbook itself. The poet has not only written twenty fine poems-none an imitation of another in content or form-but when read straight through, the poems provide readers with a tightly woven and beautiful verbal tapestry, each poem contributing indelibly to the chapbook's larger context or story.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Richard Jordan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43845592907818,"sku":"9781956285499","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0690\/0891\/6522\/files\/squannacook-at-dawn-1875894.jpg?v=1763707479"},{"product_id":"all-that-glitter","title":"All That Glitter","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEditor's Choice Winner, The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAll That Glitter\u003c\/em\u003e is a treasure hunt through the everyday-a collection of poems that takes you on a journey from the quiet of an empty house to dancing with the wild sequins of childhood. It's about finding the magic in seemingly small moments-from messy craft projects to a spectacular double rainbow on a Tuesday afternoon. With poems that explore both the sweet and the challenging side of mothering two young daughters after a divorce, this chapbook invites you to uncover some of life's most moving moments. You'll want to stick around to rediscover what it really means to sparkle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e---Review Excerpts---\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAll That Glitter\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e is a delightful book about childhood-and the way that daughters can pull a mother into play and wonder and doubt.... As kids learn their ABCs..., their mother invents sophisticated formal poetic challenges and the girls in these poems keep up with their witty observations-\"Why are we never running early?\" ... Dozier's verse about parenting and neurodiversity, shared custody and making a new home, sparkle.\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-DENISE DUHAMEL, author of \u003cem\u003ePink Lady\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKatie Dozier writes with remarkable lyrical dexterity....In these intimate and powerful poems, things aren't always what they seem. Fireworks pose as flowers, eyes are filled with drought, choosing a clove of garlic becomes a morality tale, \u003cem\u003ereach for what\/ is heavy for its size, tightly packed and ugly\u003c\/em\u003e.... Every poem pulses with maternal devotion. \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAll That Glitter\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e is a spellbinding collection. Once read, these poems will take up permanent residence in your heart.\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-NANCY MILLER GOMEZ, author of \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eInconsolable Objects\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAll That Glitter\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e is an ode to \"otherness\" and a peephole into parenting and the heaviness of the world, via singing into hairbrushes and slamming doors.... Oh, the liberties she takes, her words a series of brushstroke swirls, her intentions a daffodil facing the sun, x-ing out the answers from yesterday. Truth be told (or tattled), this life is short. We could all use a little more glitter and Dozier brings it!\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-KARI GUNTER-SEYMOUR, Ohio Poet Laureate, author of \u003cem\u003eDirt Songs\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Katie Dozier","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44073655697450,"sku":"9781968610128","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0690\/0891\/6522\/files\/all-that-glitter-1902090.jpg?v=1771053077"},{"product_id":"the-old-folks-call-it-gods-country-poems-of-the-tarheel-and-palmetto-states","title":"The Old Folks Call It God's Country: Poems of the Tarheel and Palmetto States","description":"\u003cp\u003eCarol Parris Krauss weaves stories of North Carolina and South Carolina through various people and places. Her poems are a glimpse into the place the Old Folk's call \"God's Country.\" From looking outside her grandparent's home in Brevard, North Carolina to recounting her sister's journey to a cottage at Pawleys Island, the reader can travel with her on this journey of recognition and recollection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Carol Krauss' poems are authentic, multifaceted stories of being born and raised in the Carolinas. ...[her] warm, down to earth storytelling is interspersed throughout with startling imagery which makes each poem in this collection a delight to read. From her grandparents' house that was \u003cem\u003ethumb-smashed into the side of a mountain\u003c\/em\u003e to the \u003cem\u003esour breath fog\u003c\/em\u003e of a hurricane that \u003cem\u003erears back its head and roars\u003c\/em\u003e, her words provide a unique view of a physical landscape that is in her blood.\"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-Beth Dulin, writer \u0026amp; editor\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\"These allusive poems, with references to Jane Kenyon and Eudora Welty, create a kind of liminal space, a pause for reflection between a little girl's miserable corrective shoes and an older woman's sore hip. Carol Krauss can see bullets in red rubber pencil erasers, but also finds grace on mountain tops and a cruise downtown to the old Courthouse. I call shotgun!\"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-Christine Potter, author of \u003cem\u003eUnforgetting, Sheltering in Place\u003c\/em\u003e and The Bean Books series\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Carol Krauss paints a family history that intersects with the beauty and dangers of the natural world. Each poem offers a story to us, full of the wisdom gained from the small hurricanes we live through together.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-Michael Jon Khandelwal, executive director, The Muse Writers Center\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Carol Parris Krauss","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44073937174570,"sku":"9781956285567","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0690\/0891\/6522\/files\/the-old-folks-call-it-gods-country-poems-of-the-tarheel-and-palmetto-states-9044964.jpg?v=1771053075"},{"product_id":"mixtape-marginal-states","title":"Mixtape: Marginal States","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe poems in \u003cem\u003eMixtape: Marginal States\u003c\/em\u003e bear witness to members of our human family who exist just outside the mainstream of society. 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It's like he peeled off layers of old paint from the English language to discover a long-lost masterpiece.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-GEORGE BILGERE, contest judge, author of \u003cem\u003eCheap Motels of My Youth\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"John Arthur keeps us firmly grounded in the state of New Jersey....The environment breeds both fantasy and cynicism with poems bringing us past the top of the Ferris wheel to the moon or using the implosion of a casino to explain gravity to a child.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-DEBORAH BAYER, author of \u003cem\u003eRope Made of Bandages\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"John Arthur writes from the quiet fault lines between urgency and inaction, compassion and self-preservation...a mash up between craft and the everyday colloquial speech of the playground. 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The poet also examines the ethos of the times, bullying, and the ordeals of being female in a male-dominant culture. Giving voice to a connection with nature, the arts, creativity, and loving relationships, the collection is filled with uplifting insights. Ultimately, \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhen All Else Fails\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ecelebrates the restorative power of poetry itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"When All Else Fails \u003c\/em\u003ereminds us that poetry can arise from even the most difficult circumstances. 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Inside professional ethics, Watson poured his poet's soul into narrative reports of breaking news and human-interest profiles. Honored in 1983 for the Best Writing in Oregon Newspapers, Watson also earned regional recognition for humorous writing. Since retiring, he has published over a hundred short stories and poems in literary magazines. His work ranges from meditations on the beauty and brutality of nature, to the absurdity of human behavior. Read the news. Laugh, cry, reflect. Turn the page.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWatson's poetry maps the landscape of human relationship, from connection to rupture, bliss to tortured doubt. Subject matter ranges from the paucity of orgasms, to the absurdity of fashion advertising, reflections on late-life discoveries about one's true parentage, odes to donuts, regretful reckonings with youthful infidelity and keys to aging well. If you ever wanted to sit inside a confessional and listen to others unload, you're in the right place.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEarly Prasie:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"What do I want from a poem? I never know until the poem presents the gift. The best poets offer them in surprise packaging. You read. You think. You read again and your breathing slows. You imagine a thing or feel a thing or think a thing you haven't imagined or felt or thought before. That's the kind of poetry Stu Watson offers. Call it a slow smolder. Then let it catch fire.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-SUSAN PALMER, novelist, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Tabernacle Bar \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eThe Booker Rebellion\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The poems in this fine collection sing of love and sex and death and donuts so sweet you cannot eat them and, of course, of the dogs who teach us how to live. Do yourself a favor and savor these poems slowly and let their jubilance uplift you from where you have sat far too long thinking of the daily news.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e -TIM SCHELL, author of \u003cem\u003eRoad to the Sea\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In his collection Death Is the Dismount, poet Stu Watson offers brand spanking new takes on aging replete with blush-worthy lust, tender declarations of love, honest appraisals of his family history, and eloquent reckonings with what comes closer every day, death. There's a surprise 'round every turn of page...\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-ELLEN WATERSTON, Oregon Poet Laureate, \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eauthor \u003cem\u003eof As Far as I Can Anthem\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Stuart Watson","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":68045208486039,"sku":"9781968610265","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0690\/0891\/6522\/files\/death-is-the-dismount-7145260.jpg?v=1791986346"},{"product_id":"morning-glory-moon","title":"Morning Glory Moon","description":"\u003cp\u003eCasey Robb's diverse collection of poetry encompasses both free verse and traditional forms, (such as sonnets, pantoums, and villanelles) to move the reader through moods that range from eerie and somber to humorous and light. 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It is as if Virginia were talking to us from a stage, in a one woman play, playing her remarkable self. The poems chronicle her colorful life-her relationships with her exacting father and beautiful mother, her sister, the painter, Vanessa Bell, her ever-supportive husband, Leonard Woolf, her love of Vita Sackville-West and friendships with Lytton Strachey and Katherine Mansfield, her passion for her beloved Cornwall seacoast, and for the great city of London, the sheer hard grind of writing, the birth of her modernist novels, the glow and pitfalls of fame, aging, the war years, her final gallant fight against depression. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDip into any poem or read straight through to experience episodes from an exceptional life. Each poem vibrantly captures Woolf's personal reflections, yet each has a universal resonance-the void left after a mother's death, the loneliness of a love extinguished, the deep satisfaction of a day well lived-and each poem is enriched with a quotation from Woolf's diaries, letters or novels that inspired it. From cover to cover this is a narrative of the fascinating life of a literary giant. 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A singular, stunning collection. \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-Brett Warren, author, \u003cem\u003eThe Map of Unseen Things\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eUsing fragments of Woolf's writing as inspiration, she creates luminous poems that capture her vision, and emotion, even the music, what Woolf called the \"secret transactions, a voice answering a voice.\" For anyone who loves Woolf, this collection will enchant and linger and make you want to begin it again.\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-Bill Walker, former manager, McGraw-Hill Book Clubs\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBarbara Fried takes her deep immersion into Virginia Woolf's diaries and letters and creates a poetic biography of Woolf, experimenting with different forms of verse (something I think Woolf would have appreciated) as she moves from Woolf's early memories through to her eventual suicide. Reading these poems reconnects a reader who knows Woolf well to her rich and complicated life and should provide the impetus for one who perhaps has only read one of Woolf's novels to go back and explore the world that Virginia experienced.\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-Alice van Buren Kelley, author, \u003cem\u003eThe Novels of Virginia Woolf: Fact and Vision\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRiveting. Insightful. 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The poems are personal, a good number reflecting the wonderings within the poet who is a Mennonite Christian, and thus a pacifist, who believes the divine spark resides within all human beings. He is a product of the sixties in American life, a unique slice of our country's history.The dramatic social and cultural happenings of those days are always with him and come through in this collection. 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It is foremost a journey toward light while attempting to express the complexities of relationships and accept the mysteries of life and death.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e---------------\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"By turns musical, magical and matter of fact, Moon Talk embraces both the extraordinary mysteries and the everyday details of life. Nathalie Le Breton populates her book with ghosts and dreams as well as moss, seaweed and Yorkshire pudding baked with wild mushrooms. Along the way, she takes us dancing through darkness and glowing light and all the places in between, while exploring her relationship with love, mortality, teacups, and the moon itself.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-LINDA FERGUSON, author, Of the Forest\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Nathalie Le Breton","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":68123743649943,"sku":"9781968610258","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0690\/0891\/6522\/files\/moon-talk-8692454.jpg?v=1792786632"},{"product_id":"from-the-other-side-of-maybe","title":"From the Other Side of Maybe","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Journey of Family, Loss, and the Lifelong Vow to Never Forget\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDo you really know the backstory of your family history?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn, \u003cem\u003eFrom the Other Side of Maybe, \u003c\/em\u003e P.M. 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A richly layered and powerful work of literature, brimming with humor and love, \u003cem\u003eFrom the Other Side of\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eMaybe\u003c\/em\u003e stays with the reader as an inspiring reminder of the human spirit's stunning capacity for resilience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-SKIPWITH COALE, writer\/poet\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis heartwarming collection comprises unposted letters addressed to a latter generation, filled with family history, words of advice and a lovely collection of poetry relating the author's experiences, transitions and growing up into her full realization of life. Stories and verse within are appended with such tragedy, hardship, switchbacks, and loss along her course that one might wonder how she arrived at all in such a place to proclaim to her beloved granddaughters: \u003cem\u003eYou are my unbound joy, my prayer for every tomorrow. \/\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eWe are family-you make me believe in second chances.\/ I write from the other side of Maybe.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-SEAN SEXTON, author of \u003cem\u003eMay Darkness Restore\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003ePortals\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eP.M.Draper will wrench your heart out of you, but she'll do it in such a way that you don't realize it at first. So, you will keep reading: what is the feeling growing in me? Where is the center of the heartbreak in this story? Draper unwinds slowly, subtly, with all the drama and pacing of a mystery novel. 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Here, the everyday makes common cause with the absurd and nonsensical-real jockeying with surreal from stanza to stanza, line to line. Black's poems both comfort and confound. Snow, houses, and the elusive nature of the self are recurring, sometimes disquieting themes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEarly Praise: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlack's writing is both tightly disciplined and coyly whimsical. The world of these poems is a convincing one with its share of keen, if sometimes surreal observation. There is a loveliness in The Snow Arrow that, as much as it doesn't want to, sometimes hurts. At times there is also a sense of something not quite right, something off, not by a lot but by some metric of what it means to be human. These are poems in which you sometimes forget to breathe. 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How very much there is to value in this book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-VERONICA PATTERSON, Inaugural Poet Laureate, Loveland, CO\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach poem in this quietly inspiring work is a constellation, a gyre, transposing what is temporal and known and fleeting into the complex shapes of a new world order: the heart, miraculous and moored, folding and refolding itself into the long reckoning. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-KATHRYN WINOGRAD, author, \u003cem\u003eThis Visible Speaking: Catching Light through the Camera's Eye\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSorensen's luminous new book, Snow Over an Origami Heart, takes poetry to breathtaking lyrical heights...Aching and rhapsodic, these poems address beauty and loss, contending with physical diminishment and personal tragedy. 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