Gerald Murnane turns to poetry at the end of his literary career, writing frank, disarming poems that traverse the rich span of his life. I esteem / above all poems or passages of prose / those that put a lump in my throat. — Gerald Murnane, ‘The Darkling Thrush’ Gerald Murnane, now in his eightieth year, began his writing career as a poet. After many years as a writer of fiction, he only returned to poetry a few years ago when he moved to Goroke, in the Western Districts of Victoria, after the death of his wife. The forty-five poems collected here are in a strikingly different mode to his fiction — without framing or digressions, and with very few images, they speak openly to the reader of the author’s memories, beliefs and experiences. They are for this reason an important addition to his internationally recognised body of fiction, most recently Border Districts and Collected Short Fiction, published by Giramondo. The poems include tributes to his mother and father and to his family, and to places that have played a formative role in his life, like Gippsland, Bendigo, Warrnambool, the Western Districts, and of course Goroke. Especially moving are his poems dedicated to authors who have influenced him — Lesbia Harford and Thomas Hardy, William Carlos Williams, Henry Handel Richardson, Marcel Proust, and with particular force, the eighteenth-century poet John Clare, who gives the collection its title, revered ‘not only for his writings / but for his losing his reason when / he was forced from the district he had wanted as his for life.’ Praise for Gerald Murnane: ‘A strong case could be made for Murnane…as the greatest living English-language writer most people have never heard of.’ — New York Times ‘No living Australian writer, not even Les Murray, has higher claims to permanence or a richer sense of distinction.’ — Sydney Morning Herald

Death - Composed From The Shadows possesses poems on the darkness that awaits us all. Words have been combined, creating alluring visuals that will take you on a journey beyond the shadows. D. J. Irvine has forged a seductive book that will read differently every time you gaze inside. If you have questions about Death or would like to read poetry entwined with philosophy, this book needs to be in your collection. Death Poems This book of death poems combines an assortment of rhyme, free verse, and philosophical poems to complete this second anthology by D. J. Irvine. The poetry within these pages is written in different styles, lengths and scenes to help take you off into a different dimension. The eBook version is composed using text only, while the paperback is filled with beautiful photography. Both versions have a very different feel to capture the reader's imagination. As you read this book, Death! Will sit next to you, stand at the edge of your bed or take your hand when you sleep and show you what awaits in the afterlife. As you finish this book, your state of consciousness will climb a new mountain; into this moment, we define as reality. A Little About The Author As I type these words onto this blank canvas, flashes of high definition pictures project through the front of my mind. My four sons faces, smile with delight and remind me of my journey on this tiny rock we call Earth. They have helped me carve out most of the pansophy that awaits your lucid being. My wife is a lush-emerald-glen found in the highlands of Scotland because she can break any storm that ignites around the family home. Emma is the peacekeeper, carer and nurtures our growing minds with love and tranquillity. If things seem tough or we need a moment of serenity, you can find us walking the vanilla beaches of Norfolk. We let the sea crash between our toes while gorging on fish and chips in a moment where time seems infinite. Growing up in a town called Wellingborough gave me a wealth of life experience I still use to this very day. I'm the oldest brother of five siblings, and we grew up in a little council house. We learned to stick together, help out, cook, clean, get ourselves to school and enjoy each others company. The laughs and tears we all shared helped fabricate this book into existence. My brothers and sisters look up to me, mainly because I'm the oldest, and I always had to set the rules around the house. My door is still open, and I keep in touch and talk to them all, primarily through all the highs and lows of life. With this being my second book on Amazon; I look forward to all the criticism, reviews, remarks, suggestions and outrageous profanities. Thank you for the purchase, and I hope you enjoy the impenetrable obscurities within.

Daringly realistic and artfully mediated by past and present, Claudia Emerson's Secure the Shadow contains historical pieces as well as poems centering on the deaths of the poet's brother and father. Emerson covers all aspects of the tragedies that, as Keats believed, contribute to our human collective of Soul-making, in which each death accrues into an immortal web of ongoing love and meaning for the living. Emerson's unwavering gaze shows that loss cannot be eluded, but can be embraced in elegies as devastating as they are beautiful. The macabre title poem refers to the old custom of making daguerreotypes, primitive photographs, of deceased loved ones. Other striking poems describe animal deaths -- mysterious calf killings, a hog slaughter, the burial of a dead jay, "identifiable / but light, dry, its eyes vacant orbits." Death, as the speaker's heart and mind instruct her, exists in a shadow world. When the body disappears, the shadow also flees. By securing the shadow, the poet finds a representation of the dead's soul, a soul always linked to the body. Hence, Emerson's attention to the minute details of the body's repose -- reflected in the long, related sequence of refrained poems -- never allows its memory to fade.

The poems in Shadows of Death and other poems epitomize life in the developing countries like Malawi. The selection of poems in this book represents a celebration of Africa's culture as perceived by the author. They portray life as the natives and others

A book-length poem evokes the horror, anguish, and brutality of 20th century history.

"Kooser has written more perfect poems than any poet of his generation." -Dana Gioia, Can Poetry Matter?

Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, celebrates love in her new collection of poems "If I have any secret stash of poems, anywhere, it might be about love, not anger," Mary Oliver once said in an interview. Finally, in her stunning new collection, Felicity, we can immerse ourselves in Oliver’s love poems. Here, great happiness abounds. Our most delicate chronicler of physical landscape, Oliver has described her work as loving the world. With Felicity she examines what it means to love another person. She opens our eyes again to the territory within our own hearts; to the wild and to the quiet. In these poems, she describes—with joy—the strangeness and wonder of human connection. As in Blue Horses, Dog Songs, and A Thousand Mornings, with Felicity Oliver honors love, life, and beauty.