The Candid Sea

The Candid Sea is an anthology of assorted poems that endeavors to transport the reader to a sequestered island of abstraction and awe. It is concocted with allegories that intend to stimulate the reader with its figurative word craft and deep allusions. The candid sea is as deep as the oceanic girth and as fluid as the mosaic English literature. With its creative sorcery it shall make the readers fly with the semantic breeze and walk with an unshaken ecstasy that is drenched in exuberance, delight, and a casual nonchalance. Hope you like it!

The Bible According to Eve

The Bible According to Eve: The Women of the Torah retells the stories of the women of the Hebrew Bible in the first five books. It begins with a poem about the Eve of the books, moves through the story of Eve's loss in Cain's murder of Abel and the tale of Noah's wife to the stories of the patriarchs' wives of Genesis. It follows with poems relating to the stories of Moses's family and laws of Leviticus, Numbers, and the other books of the Pentateuch. Boldly told from an all-female perspective, The Bible According to Eve is a more exhaustive treatment of the Bible's women than The Red Tent or After Abel and Other Stories, on top of being easy to understand and a joy to read.

The Art of Dying

Much writing on the subject of death, dying, cancer, and grief is often sugar coated. That is understandable, considering the difficulty experienced by those dealing with it. However, in the process of grieving, it is essential to express, in often raw terms, how excruciating it is. Jere Truer, being both a therapist and a widower, worked through his grief via poetry and honesty, with the hope that these poems will validate others’ reality, give permission to bear down into grief and emerge on the other side of it.

The Albatross

Some believe that we put on different masks to face the world each day. Some people have this control and some don’t. The Albatross sheds light on the darkest parts of the mind that most struggle to comprehend and share with the world. Through this work, perhaps all the broken souls can come together.

Sweet Debris

Discover the poignant journey of one man’s passage through solitude and emotional isolation. On the surface, he appears ordinary, blending into the streetscape. Yet, within him lies a profound empathy for the overlooked fragments of life: the homeless, abandoned houses, desolate railroad sidings, and forgotten freight tracks. These elements, along with the haunting memories of a bygone era, shape his existence. His childhood whispers to him, filled with voices now lost to the earth, offering wisdom and counsel. Through it all, he persists with a quiet determination, moving forward despite the weight of the past.

Surviving Cancer

A poet's arduous journey of love and lament, verse by verse.

Please read this book's content, and discover life at its best and its worst.

There are many defining moments in life. The moment which defines my life is when I rang the bell at Penn Medicine, in Philadelphia, which put an exclamation point to the last of my 30 radiation treatments for cancer of the larynx. Because of my wife, our four children, seven grandchildren and dear friends, I have survived the darkest days in my life. I can never thank them enough. On the field called life, it’s not about watching from the side lines, it’s about participating in daily living and giving your heart and soul to making yourself wiser and healthier, and to helping those near and dear to you reach their goals. This book is dedicated to all those brave souls, who fight the good fight and never give up when unforeseen disease strikes them down.

Sunset Silhouettes

The sun will close its books on a day like any other

round up its warmth and retracts the lights to feed another

in degrees it recedes, slipping in, out, and about

the flaming orangey clouds half-dipped in the horizon

a dazzling hopelessness courts the night

The sun will close its books on a day like any other

but can it account for the slumped lone silhouette

faceless beauty that hovers in its foreground

matching its sadness with the splendid sunset

a dazzling hopelessness encamps the soul

the final charm of a dying day.

Sunset Silhouettes is Linda Adede Ongola’s debut poetry anthology which features a hundred poems written mostly in free verse and of the confessional genre. It covers themes of mental health, theodicy, love, betrayal, and corruption among other social concerns.

Studies in Smoke

Studies in Smoke is not fiction. The shared event is actual and the resonance real. So is this.

This poetry remains faithful to traditional form. It is true to life and to living simply while thinking too much.

It is true to the cycle of uneasy, never settled sentiments that prescribe no moral, no message, no mysticism. In plain language and the fitting phrase, this work is authentic to the voices of inanimate shadings, to the shifting shapes that drift into evanescent experience.

This work offers the painterly touches not yet digitalized in the mind’s eye.

Buy the ticket. Take the ride.

Storyteller in Times Square

Storyteller in Times Square opens with a visit to New York and the ruins of the World Trade Center. Thus begins a poetry collection that reflects in subtle and surprising ways the post World War II history of the United States. Without being either “political” or “ideological,” the poet employs concise and often disciplined forms of language to touch upon deeper matters of destiny and feeling.  Our lives, our deeds, our ideas—all of these have consequences for how we treat our land and each other. The moments of lyricism and humor help us to keep our balance. And the perspective is important, for these poems are about paying attention to reality. Can we pay attention to the voices of history submerged in our wake, swirling behind us? Perhaps that question in essence is what these poems ask of us.

Stories & Poems = Happiness

This book is both a poetry book and a story book.

These are mostly stories written in the form of a poem. Of the fifty poems, thirty seven have won either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place. Nine are published in various poetry organizations with other poets. These stories are very interesting and can put a smile on your face. Some are true and some can be true.

Stand Alone Still

Embark on a transformative journey of self-discovery and healing in this compelling exploration of resilience and forgiveness.

Have you endured unimaginable hardships, surviving what feels like hell on earth, only to realize that the path to salvation lies not in entering heaven, but in healing your own wounded heart? In this poignant tale, you will discover that the true meaning of home extends far beyond physical walls – it resides within the depths of your own being.

As you navigate the challenging terrain of self-forgiveness and forgiveness of others, you will uncover a profound truth: the battle lies not in the external world, but within yourself. It is through this internal struggle that you find the strength to grow and transcend the limitations imposed upon you.

Spring of Aging

Chastity Hernandez makes her poetry debut with a personal and intimate collection of poems spanning years throughout her youth. Spring of Aging explores a myriad of raw emotions and thoughts experienced by the author in a relatable and curious way. Spring of Aging brings you along on a heartfelt journey of self-acceptance, heartbreak, grief, mental illness, and new love.

Spring of Aging began at the author’s age of 14 and has been completed at the age of 22. The collection embraces and comes to terms with different situations in life and hopes to comfort and resonate with readers who are experiencing similar emotions and hardships. We hope at least one of these poems reaches you in a meaningful way and leaves you feeling understood, represented, and at ease. Each poem was put together in a vulnerable and brutally honest state that the author hopes readers can come back to again and again.