Sitting In The Shade Of My Own Tree

Beloved author Sheila Williams beautifully captures the bittersweet humor and vivid adventures of women who survive the worst life can toss at them—and fight back to claim their right to be free, to be themselves, and to live in . . . The courage to change doesn’t come easy. When Opal Sullivan walks out on an abusive husband after fifteen years, she has only her dreams in her pocket. Her new beginning starts in Appalachian River country, where she sees a bit of herself in a graceful but dilapidated house. Like Opal, the house is worn-out and somewhat beaten up, but it still stands proudly and deserves a second chance. So Opal opens her doors—and her heart—to a parade of unforgettable characters. There’s sassy Bette Smith with her cantaloupe-colored hair and four-inch heels; short-tempered Gloria and her devilish son, Troy; the mysterious Dana, who dresses in black and keeps exclusively nocturnal hours; a dog named “Bear” who is afraid of his own shadow; and Jack, who doesn’t mind hanging out with an OBBWA (old black broad with an attitude). It is Jack who helps Opal understand a funny thing about life: You can’t move forward if you keep looking back. . . .

As we read Sitting in the Shade of My Own Tree, we feel the fullness of time, a life lived in the close company of others. Here are the poems of strong woman, a poet who brings grace and beauty to open our hearts to the familiar; the voices of family members, the importance of friendships, the pleasure of literary connection and the gravity of politics. "Death is such a sneak," Streznewski tells us, just before she writes, "I sit in the driver's seat." In her amazing poem Granddaughter's Moon, we are taken "far inside" a new-born child, a home, a neighborhood, the universe. What gifts! -Myra Shapiro, author of Twelve Floors Above the Earth What peaceful pleasure Sitting in the Shade of My Own Tree gives me. Marylou Kelly Streznewski writes with the gentle wisdom of family love and ripe old age. As one of her speakers reflects, "I have bargained with the Hag / bartered with the Old Man and / earned the right to stand here in the sun." These are poems to savor and return to. They cast a glow on the soul. -Lynn Levin author of Miss Plastique These poems chronicle a disappearing America, and the hope and heartache of having lived through the Twentieth Century. Simultaneously nostalgic and forward-looking, Sitting in the Shade of My Own Tree looks unflinchingly at the world with a mix of humor and pathos and explores the possibilities of language to get it right. These are poems of human frailty and human hope. -Gerry LaFemina author of Little Heretic

Beloved author Sheila Williams beautifully captures the bittersweet humor and vivid adventures of women who survive the worst life can toss at them—and fight back to claim their right to be free, to be themselves, and to live in . . . The courage to change doesn’t come easy. When Opal Sullivan walks out on an abusive husband after fifteen years, she has only her dreams in her pocket. Her new beginning starts in Appalachian River country, where she sees a bit of herself in a graceful but dilapidated house. Like Opal, the house is worn-out and somewhat beaten up, but it still stands proudly and deserves a second chance. So Opal opens her doors—and her heart—to a parade of unforgettable characters. There’s sassy Bette Smith with her cantaloupe-colored hair and four-inch heels; short-tempered Gloria and her devilish son, Troy; the mysterious Dana, who dresses in black and keeps exclusively nocturnal hours; a dog named “Bear” who is afraid of his own shadow; and Jack, who doesn’t mind hanging out with an OBBWA (old black broad with an attitude). It is Jack who helps Opal understand a funny thing about life: You can’t move forward if you keep looking back. . . .

As The Giving Tree turns fifty, this timeless classic is available for the first time ever in ebook format. This digital edition allows young readers and lifelong fans to continue the legacy and love of a classic that will now reach an even wider audience. "Once there was a tree...and she loved a little boy." So begins a story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein. This moving parable for all ages offers a touching interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another's capacity to love in return. Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk...and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave. This is a tender story, touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. Shel Silverstein's incomparable career as a bestselling children's book author and illustrator began with Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back. He is also the creator of picture books including A Giraffe and a Half, Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros?, The Missing Piece, The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, and the perennial favorite The Giving Tree, and of classic poetry collections such as Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, Falling Up, Every Thing On It, Don't Bump the Glump!, and Runny Babbit. And don't miss the other Shel Silverstein ebooks, Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic!

In This Volume, There Are Poems In Which The Crucifix And The Prophet Mohammad Become Symbols Of Spiritual Strength. Most Of The Poems In This Book Have Been Chosen In Consultation With The Poet Himself From Eight Volumes Of Verse That Have Appeared Over About Three Decades, And Are The Most Representative Of PoetýS Creative Output.

It is 1979 just outside a remote Zambian village when seventeen-year-old Chimuka meets Sara, a white woman near his school. The thirty-three-year-old mother of two and the young, nave man begin a relationship that will transform both their lives in ways they never could have imagined. As Chimuka shuns conventional African living for the dream of higher education and a liberated life, he decides to follow Sara. In the midst of a struggle for dignity and pride, he soon finds himself immersed in a maelstrom of cultural clashes, social opprobrium, and personal upheaval. Torn between the roles of lover, friend, breadwinner, and mother, Sara is also lost in her own tumultuous battles. After five years together in Zambia and Kenya, the two finally part, but loyally write hundreds of letters to each other that maintains their emotional connection despite the distance between them. Thirty years later, Chimuka convinces Sara to meet him under the shade of a fig tree and awaits the conclusion of his unforgettable odyssey from the heart of Africa into the soul of the woman he has always loved as his mother.

" ... The details of Washington's 45-year-long campaign to build and perfect Mount Vernon."--Jacket.