Southern Poetry

Kathryn Tucker Windham begins this montage of stories with the sounds of summer and ends with a joyful Christmas memory. The mixture of tales, from the mouth-watering description of good Southern food to the story of a governor more familiar with Tom Sawyer than Tom Jefferson, comes together to evoke the image of a happy childhood.

So many years ago, we used to joke that neither one of us could rattle the suitcases, because the other would say, “Let’s go!” Even when we first dated, Allen told me, “I’m not the marrying kind. I like to travel too much.” Our first trips were to Mexico, camping across the United States and Canada, and many shorter trips between. Once, I told Allen that I’d always wanted to travel around the Horn of South America. When I retired from teaching in 2008, he made this dream come true. This travel memoir allows you to travel along with us, enjoying poems, travel notes, and ...

Previously published as [Descriptions of an Angel] [Episodes 1-12] on Kindle Vella Christina is beautiful, young, and currently winning at life. Her lifestyle is one that many would envy, but she still yearns for something more. Dante is one of the infamous Cameron brothers, who became popular when their grandfather leaves them a fortune. While none of them are married yet, Dante longs for a loving partner. When the two finally meet, they speed into a beautiful relationship. Will everything remain perfect, or will their fast growing flame soon burn out?

WINNER OF THE 2025 JAMES LAUGHLIN AWARD FROM THE ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS A stunning new collection exploring lineage and the legacy of survival as seen through the life of the poet’s grandmother Alice—a Black woman born in the Jim Crow South—using the King James Bible as a narrative...

Living with depression is the greatest challenge for humankind but it can be overcome: a unique voice inside you will make you heal. Beautiful Poison is a book that is filled with heartbreak, grief, loneliness but it is also filled with personal transformation and healing. It's written for you: the one who is in pain right now. Your struggles will not go unnoticed, and your pain will be the definition of beauty tomorrow. You will discover that life is so beautiful even during the days you're surrounded by the dark clouds of depression. Dive into these uplifting poems and allow yourself to ...

Girls cannot be drummers. Long ago on an island filled with music, no one questioned that rule - until the drum dream girl. In her city of drumbeats, she dreamed of pounding tall congas and tapping small bongós. She had to keep quiet. She had to practice in secret. But when at last her dream-bright music was heard, everyone sang and danced and decided that both girls and boys should be free to drum and dream.

Experience the magic of South Africa with this unique audiobook collection of poems and songs, curated by acclaimed children's author Refiloe Moahloli. This is more than a listening experience, it’s an aural journey across a diverse, vibrant culture. Hear all 11 official South African...

This program is read by the author. In the literary tradition of Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House, Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior, and Jesmyn Ward’s Men We Reaped, this debut memoir confronts both the challenges and joys of growing up Black and making your own truth...

Vidyan Ravinthiran was born in the north of England to Sri Lankan Tamils, and moved to the United States five years ago. Considering identity in both its political and psychological senses, he leaps adventurously between memoir and criticism, understanding his life through poetry, and vice versa. This electric, compelling hybrid memoir discovers a new way of writing about the self and also literature.

Luminous Dust is a sestina poetry collection on life, choice, and the quiet pressures that shape a person long before anyone calls it destiny. Under the Milky Way, Panyim stands at the edge of manhood, pulled by the promise of distance, risk, and the old idea of glory. He wants the road, the wind, the test of himself in places that do not know his name. Nyakor stands beside him with a different kind of courage. Her love is not a chain. It is a light. It asks him to see that strength is not only proven by leaving, but also by staying, building, and protecting what is already in his hands. ...

Serafina has a secret dream. She wants to go to school and become a doctor with her best friend, Julie Marie. But in their rural village outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti, many obstacles stand in Serafina's way - little money, never-ending chores, and Manman's worries. More powerful even than all of these are the heavy rains and the shaking earth that test Serafina's resolve in ways she never dreamed. At once heartbreaking and hopeful, this exquisitely crafted story will leave a lasting impression on your heart.

The riveting second book in the #1 New York Times bestselling Door of No Return trilogy stars Kofi’s granddaughter, Charley, who’s set on becoming the first female pitcher to play professional ball but who soon has to contend with the tensions about to boil over in her segregated town.You...

In the third and final installment of the Souls Trilogy, acclaimed poet Iain S. Thomas explores what hope feels like after despair. Following on his bestselling collections, The Truth of You and The Secret of You, Thomas’s latest volume of over two-hundred poems examines how we find the faith...

“Gorgeous poetry” (People) that celebrates Black Southern womanhood and the many ways magic lives in the bonds between mothers, daughters, and sisters, from the bestselling author of Memphis. “These are lush poems full of radical love and strength.”—Warsan Shire, author of Bless the...

Southern Bred is a haunting, powerful collection of gothic poems that captivate and transport the listener into the heart and soul of the Deep South. Each poem offers a glimpse into its mystery and enchantment, drawing you in with a blend of beauty and darkness. In the style of a memoir in verse, it showcases Ghigna’s southern soul and his tender, yet piercing language, and affirms his place as one of the finest poets of our time.

The World Within is Book 2 in the Poetry & Reflections on Life series, a focused collection of 100 sestina poems written to explore the inner life with discipline and feeling. The sestina is a demanding form, built on repetition and return, and this book uses that structure to examine what the mind circles when it is trying to make sense of living. These poems move through questions of identity, faith, love, loss, endurance, longing, memory, and the quiet battle to stay human. Some look outward at the world and its contradictions. Others turn inward, where the real wars are often fought in ...

2025 National Book Award Finalist The striking sophomore poetry collection from the award-winning author of the “beautiful, vulnerable, honest” (Ross Gay, New York Times bestselling author) I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood. Dive between the borders of ruined and radical love...

Creator is Book 3 in the Poetry & Reflections on Life series. It is a poetry collection written for readers who feel deeply, question openly, and keep searching for meaning even when life is loud or uncertain. These poems move through love and loss, longing and gratitude, faith and doubt, and the slow work of self-discovery. The voice is direct and human. It does not hide behind cleverness. It speaks from the inside, where joy can feel like a miracle and sorrow can feel like weather. At the center of the collection is a recurring question: what does it mean to be created, and what does it ...

The Second Edition of the poetry and lyric of Joseph Lumpkin. The Poetry and music of Joseph Lumpkin can be heard throughout the world via most streaming services and Amazon Music. He has written over 100 songs and has written and produced 8 albums. This book contains the raw, hand typed versions of all his songs as they first appeared. Look into the mind and creativity of this artist through his poetry and lyrics.

Fog obscured the channel today … I had no idea it would be the beginning of a very long stay. As soon as I speak, I always get the question, "Where are you from?" My typical answer is, "California," where I grew up. I notice most of the time I don't even mention Britain. That is a disservice--the place shaped me more than know. The poems, vignettes, and stories from the UK in this book are an effort to acknowledge both place and experience. Before I left, while on a trip to Venice, I found a handmade notebook, leather bound with paper perfect for ink and quill, as well as watercolor. So, ...