Poems That Live Forever

Over 175,000 copies have been sold of this perennially popular collection of America's favorite poems.

In lucid, elegant poems, Forever contemplates love against the pressing question of mortality after a diagnosis of cancer. Praised for a voice with "the crystalline, transformative, pure pitch of a lyric poet" (Ilya Kaminsky), James Longenbach explores a life lived with the knowledge of its end in his sixth collection. These luminous, lyrical poems pose a question: Why did this poet once live as if he would live forever? And what does it mean to know that we will not? Forever explores the meaning of love, from its discovery in the first poem, "Two People," to its maintenance in the last, "Forever." In between, the volume explores the precariously imminent demise of all that we love—the finite lives of other people, the mortal beauty of Venice—all thrown into urgent relief by the poet’s own cancer diagnosis. Evoking "the vivid dailiness of domestic life…and the specificity and poignance" of memories, "these lyrics are intimately personal, achingly autobiographical" (Langdon Hammer, American Scholar). Forthright, moving, and wry, the poems in Forever look back gratefully—excitedly—on a lifetime of self-making and self-shattering events.

Contains over 575 of the most frequently requested poems in America, divided by subject and indexed by authors and first lines.

If Only They Could Live Forever - A Collection of Pet Bereavement Poems & Quotes to Help Ease Your Grief Upon the Loss of Your Beloved Pet. This book was created by Pet Loss Grief Counselor, Carol Mennig, as a source for strength and clarity for those who are grieving the loss of a pet. The loss of a pet is unlike that of a human due to the complete dependency our pets have on us. This can lead to feelings of guilt and other negative thoughts and those around us may not understand. The writings in this book will assure a grieving pet parent that indeed there are plenty of us who understand. Visit Carol's website at http: //www.PetLossGriefCounseling.net for further information.

Initially, I had intended to write this book in the summer of 2006. At that time, my involvement in the Life Extension Movement was growing, my enthusiasm was palpable; trusted friends and colleagues urged me to undertake the project, noting that it would give momentum to a nascent movement that was a mere blip on the political radar screen and bring needed attention to an issue that many thought might never be discussed seriously in a society that considers death an unpleasant but inevitable reality. Even though I agreed with this analysis, I managed to avoid any serious attempt to start a far-reaching debate on the political, social, and economic consequences of radically extending one’s life into the future. After all, I thought, the technology in this field is still at a nascent stage, antiaging research receives few government grants, controversy abounds in the scientific community as to the mere possibility of indefinite life extension; most elected officials are clueless about it and even a majority of the President’s Council on Bioethics is hostile to the idea. But that being said, I never was one to back down from a good fight. I had read much of the scientific work undertaken by a multitude of scientists determined to understand how and why human beings slowly age, and how we can reverse our demise and extend our lives indefinitely. I disagreed with the naysayers who pompously declare that prolonging life will ruin the environment, cause overpopulation, promote wars over scarce resources, as well as those narrow-minded, quasi—pundits who embraced a number of bogus charges and half-truths intended to impede further research into the causes of the terminal disease of aging. I had more than enough evidence to confront the critics, but for some unknown reason, I lost the internal primal spark necessary to fight back. I thought, should I enter a battle that few know about and even fewer care? Instead of hearing a clarion call to act, I became mired in skepticism, doubt and a growing resignation toward terminal apathy. ...

A collection of humorous poems to read aloud and perform.