Birds Nest Poems

In this debut collection, Anna Journey invites the reader into her peculiar, noir universe nourished with sex and mortality. Her poems are haunted by demons, ghosts, and even the living who wander exotic landscapes that appear at once threatening and seductive. In these poems, her sly speaker renames a pink hibiscus on display at Lowe's, "Lucifer's Panties"; another character chants, "I'd fall devil / over heels over edge over oleander"; and one woman writes a letter to the underworld: Dear black bayou, once, by a river I bit a man's neck. His scent: the raw teak air husked inside stomachs of six Russian nesting dolls--the ones in the attic I pulled apart and open. The ones I pulled apart and open like Styrofoam cups.

“A Bird’s Nest” is a collection of poems written in the teenage and pre-teen years of a woman. About love, hate, family, friends etc. When writing the poetry is simple and peaceful. This is what birds are to the world which is where the literature meaning of birds comes into play. There are a few poems written in the spirit of being a bird and the chapters are based on the journey of a bird. We all should live as free as a bird flying in the wind.

John Clare (1793-1864) is one of the most sensitive poetic observers of the natural world. Born into a rural labouring family, he felt connected to two communities: his native village and the Romantic and earlier poets who inspired him. The first part of this study of Clare and community shows how Clare absorbed and responded to his reading of a selection of poets including Chatterton, Bloomfield, Gray and Keats, revealing just how serious the process of self-education was to his development. The second part shows how he combined this reading with the oral folk-culture he was steeped in, to create an unrivalled poetic record of a rural culture during the period of enclosure, and the painful transition to the modern world. In his lifelong engagement with rural and literary life, Clare understood the limitations as well as the strengths in communities, the pleasures as well as the horrors of isolation.

This charming little pocket book contains a choice collection of 9 bird-related poems written by seminal English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. "The Swan's Nest Among the Reeds" is a wonderful, travel-friendly compendium containing delightful bird poetry partnered with beautiful colour illustrations by Archibald Thorburn that will appeal to naturalists, twitchers and literature lovers alike. The perfect gift for birdwatchers and others who like to roam and read. Contents include: “Birds and Poets, an Excerpt by John Burroughs”, “An Island”, “My Doves”, “The Sea-Mew”, “The Poet and the Bird”, “Patience Taught by Nature”, “The Romance of the Swan's Nest”, “A Drama of Exile: Bird Spirit”, “Paraphrase on Anacreon: Ode to the Swallow”, and “Bianca Among the Nightingales”. Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806– 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era who garnered significant renown in both Britain and the United States. Browning began writing poetry from the age of eleven and her early work, kept safe by her mother, constitutes one of the largest collections of juvenilia in existence. Her poetry collection “Poems” (1844) brought her popular acclaim, as well the attention of Robert Browning. Fearing her father's disapproval, the two corresponded and eventually in secret. Browning had a significant influence on many writers of her day, including Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe. Other notable works by this writer include: "How Do I Love Thee?" (1845) and “Aurora Leigh” (1856). Ragged Hand is proud to be publishing this brand new collection of classic poetry now complete with illustrations by Archibald Thorburn and an excerpt by John Burroughs.