I used to love poetry. As a young thing, I spent hours filling up spiral notebook (which I titled Poetry Journal) with poems called "I Love Him" and "Heartache" and "Secret Love" and "Love, oh, Love, where art thou."Yep.
It got better in high school and college, where I was introduced to real poetry that made my heart explode.
At some point, after college, I think, I stopped reading poems. It's a shame. My life was missing something, and I didn't even know what it was until recently.
A very talented writer-friend of mine, Andrea Witzke Slot, published her first book of poems, To Find a New Beauty, with Gold Wake Press, and when she traveled from Chicago to Dallas on her brief book tour, I had the pleasure of hearing her read. I knew she was talented, but holy crap. These poems are marvelous. I wrote a review on Amazon and practically begged people, especially women and mothers, to buy it.
It's worth buying for Mother's Day.
Another writer-friend of mine, Amy Plum, had her Book Birthday yesterday for YA book II, Until I Die. She's on tour in the states, and she is such a lovely person, I would invite her to any party with anyone I know. And you can't say that about everyone, can you? She kicks butt in the YA paranormal romance department. (Literally, the revenants are skilled fighters.) If you're looking for a new YA book series for summer reading, this one is it.
