ALEXANDER BLOK (1880-1921) is the greatest Russian poet after Pushkin and perhaps the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language. This volume consists of translations of three collections of Blok's verse: Ante Lucem (1898-1900), Verses about the Beautiful Lady (1901-1902), and Crossroads (1902-1904). These poems describe Blok's visions of Sophia, the Beautiful Lady, who appeared to him at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Sophia is the mysterious feminine principle behind all creation; Blok calls her the Mysterious Maiden, the Empress of the Universe, the Eternal Bride, and he sees her in the blue sky and the sky full of stars as well as in the dawns and sunsets of Russia. He identifies the Beautiful Lady with a real girl, Liubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva, whom he courts ardently in the woods and meadows of the countryside outside of Moscow as well as in the misty maritime setting of Petersburg.

In a powerful debut, rising star Sophia Thakur brings her spoken word performance to the page. Be with yourself for a moment. Be yourself for a moment. Airplane mode everything but yourself for a moment. From acclaimed performance poet Sophia Thakur comes a stirring collection of coming-of-age poems exploring issues of identity, difference, perseverance, relationships, fear, loss, and joy. From youth to school to family life to falling in love and falling back out again—the poems draw on the author’s experience as a young mixed-race woman trying to make sense of a lonely and complicated world. With a strong narrative voice and emotional empathy, this is poetry that will resonate with all young people, whatever their background and whatever their dreams.

At its finest, poetry contains multitudes, an infinite depth within a few short lines. The poems contained in Farewell Clay Dove have an intriguing simplicity that harmonizes with their richness. These poems show remarkable insight into the Falco's subjective world.Sophia Falco's world is a dreamy land of swirling colors - until it is upended. Farewell Clay Dove is a meditation on mania, when every levitation brings an inevitable fall. The contrast between idyllic nature scenes and harsh reality propels the book forward on a wave of bright color and intense perception. Dandelions become astronauts and skyscrapers grow roots, as the speaker moves in and out of reality, and eventually into the psych ward, where they must confront the workings of their own mind.Sophia Falco's new book is wonderful! In reading you will see her progressing toward a powerful revelation. Each section can stand alone, but have more power because of her progression into awareness. My favorite section is "Suspend". The poems here are highly visual. Sophia Falco is very brave.

Wave after wave, I rise, Pulling you up with me To turn the tide. Life-altering experiences at the beginning of her journey armed the future poet with the grit she will need to forge her own path toward womanhood. Written from a feminist perspective and as a woman of colour, GRIT IN HER VEINS, GRACE IN HER SOUL is a captivating collection of empowering and heartwarming poetry. Dabbling in concrete, narrative, and lyrical poetry, the author takes the reader through a courageous, transformational journey through her work. All through its lines, this book offers inspiration and wisdom while covering major themes of loss, resilience, heartache, love, and healing. The author demonstrates through the depth and power of her bold feminine spirit that there is a silver lining we can reach, as we rise from our adversity and pave an authentic road to self discovery.

For Sophia de Mello Breyner, long regarded as among Portugal's major poets, poetry is a way of seeing and receiving life.`Poetry,' she writes, `is an art of being. It does not require my time and labour. It does not ask me to have a science or an aesthetics or a theory. Instead it demands the entireness of my being, a consciousness running deeper than my intellect, a fidelity purer than any I can control.' Greece, as much as Portugal, informs the geography, mythology and vehement light of Breyner's work. Greece also informs her sense of the achieved lyric. Even in the poems which touch most closely on personal themes of love, loss and expectation, the language remains our common language, without affectation or coy eccentricity. Her pursuit of right words and a right world is one and the same.

Just like the title suggests Philia and Sophia is a compilation of poems and writings on love and wisdom. The compilation consists of well-crafted poems written in diamante, haiku, sonnet and free style of poetry. Philia is a set of heart touching poems with ubiquitous themes like proposal, betrayal and memories of love. Sophia on the other hand leaves the reader with a message, a moral and inspiration for better living. Sophia makes the reader really think and Philia makes the reader feel. Philia and Sophia intend to touch the heart, soul and stir deep thoughts

The weather in Moscow is good, there's no cholera, there's also no lesbian love...Brrr! Remembering those persons of whom you write me makes me nauseous as if I'd eaten a rotten sardine. Moscow doesn't have them--and that's marvellous." —Anton Chekhov, writing to his publisher in 1895 Chekhov's barbed comment suggests the climate in which Sophia Parnok was writing, and is an added testament to to the strength and confidence with which she pursued both her personal and artistic life. Author of five volumes of poetry, and lover of Marina Tsvetaeva, Sophia Parnok was the only openly lesbian voice in Russian poetry during the Silver Age of Russian letters. Despite her unique contribution to modern Russian lyricism however, Parnok's life and work have essentially been forgotten. Parnok was not a political activist, and she had no engagement with the feminism vogueish in young Russian intellectual circles. From a young age, however, she deplored all forms of male posturing and condescension and felt alienated from what she called patriarchal virtues. Parnok's approach to her sexuality was equally forthright. Accepting lesbianism as her natural disposition, Parnok acknowledged her relationships with women, both sexual and non-sexual, to be the centre of her creative existence. Diana Burgin's extensively researched life of Parnok is deliberately woven around the poet's own account, visible in her writings. The book is divided into seven chapters, which reflect seven natural divisions in Parnok's life. This lends Burgin's work a particular poetic resonance, owing to its structural affinity with one of Parnok's last and greatest poetic achievements, the cycle of love lyrics Ursa Major. Dedicated to her last lover, Parnok refers to this cycle as a seven-star of verses, after the seven stars that make up the constellation. Parnok's poems, translated here for the first time in English, added to a wealth of biographical material, make this book a fascinating and lyrical account of an important Russian poet. Burgin's work is essential reading for students of Russian literature, lesbian history and women's studies.