The Octopus And Other Poems

The central metaphor of the collection The Octopus and Other Poems is the search for new life in the universe -- to find something beyond ourselves, and simultaneously to be "found." The tension between wanting to understand, and giving in to the mysteries of the universe, culminates in the long poem "The Octopus," in which former lovers debate the merits of searching for extraterrestrial life. He considers it a futile and wasteful endeavour, particularly since there are "alien" life forms we don't understand right here on earth, like the octopus. She, on the other hand, comes to realize her enjoyment of the search isn't about aliens at all, but about the pleasure of simply hoping for something new, something spectacular. In the end, she believes that it's the hope of the search that matters, not finding or being found, but looking.

Now in paperback, this collection of bold and scathingly beautiful feminist poems imagines what comes after our current age of environmental destruction, racism, sexism, and divisive politics. Informed as much by Brenda Shaughnessy's worst fears as a mother as they are by her superb craft as a poet, the poems in The Octopus Museum blaze forth from her pen: in these pages, we see that what was once a generalized fear for our children is now hyper-reasonable, specific, and multiple: school shootings, nuclear attack, loss of health care, a polluted planet. As Shaughnessy conjures our potential future, she movingly (and often with humor) envisions an age where cephalopods might rule over humankind, a fate she suggests we may just deserve after destroying their oceans. These heartbreaking, terrified poems are the battle cry of a woman who is fighting for the survival of the world she loves, and a stirring exhibition of who we are as a civilization.

Animals big and small feature in this colourful and enjoyable collection of animal poems.

This anthology of poems, compiled by Brian Moses, contains a mix of light-hearted poems and more serious ones, poems that rhyme and those that don't. There are plenty of good 'read alouds', thumping choruses, and the sort of poems that children can use as models for their own writing. Poetry is a key feature of the new National Curriculum and these fantastic poems are perfectly suited for this. Beautiful illustrations bring each poem vividly to life.

Now in paperback, this collection of bold and scathingly beautiful feminist poems imagines what comes after our current age of environmental destruction, racism, sexism, and divisive politics. Informed as much by Brenda Shaughnessy's worst fears as a mother as they are by her superb craft as a poet, the poems in The Octopus Museum blaze forth from her pen: in these pages, we see that what was once a generalized fear for our children is now hyper-reasonable, specific, and multiple: school shootings, nuclear attack, loss of health care, a polluted planet. As Shaughnessy conjures our potential future, she movingly (and often with humor) envisions an age where cephalopods might rule over humankind, a fate she suggests we may just deserve after destroying their oceans. These heartbreaking, terrified poems are the battle cry of a woman who is fighting for the survival of the world she loves, and a stirring exhibition of who we are as a civilization.

In California, Agnes, a giant Pacific octopus, pens a series of postcards to strangers from both above and below the pier.

Fourteen poems about a variety of fanciful topics.

Winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Poetry * An NPR, Slate, Oregonian, Kansas City Star, Willamette Week, and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * Amazon's Best Book of the Year in Poetry 2013 * In Incarnadine, Mary Szybist restlessly seeks out places where meaning might take on new color. One poem is presented as a diagrammed sentence. Another is an abecedarium made of lines of dialogue spoken by girls overheard while assembling a puzzle. Several poems arrive as a series of Annunciations, while others purport to give an update on Mary, who must finish the dishes before she will open herself to God. One poem appears on the page as spokes radiating from a wheel, or as a sunburst, or as the cycle around which all times and all tenses are alive in this moment. Szybist's formal innovations are matched by her musical lines, by her poetry's insistence on singing as a lure toward the unknowable. Inside these poems is a deep yearning—for love, motherhood, the will to see things as they are and to speak. Beautiful and inventive, Incarnadine is the new collection by one of America's most ambitious poets.