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The Heart of All That Is: Reflections on Home
This engaging anthology on the theme of home includes twenty personal essays and nearly eighty poems from a wide variety of social and cultural perspectives, as unique and diverse as the authors who have written them. Herein is previously uncollected writings by Joseph Bruchac, Jane Yolen, Marge Piercy, Naomi Shihab Nye, Roberta Hill, Mark Vinz, and many others.
In a world of increasing change and mobility, these writings explore our most fundamental concerns for self-identity: what is our home, where have we come from, who am I?
From "The House Made of Words":
Some day I will havea house made of words.It will be all windows and doors,with the words placed in rows,each one leading to the next,the way the presentwears the face of the past.
Jim Perlman is the founding editor and publisher of Holy Cow! Press.
Deborah Cooper is the author of Under the Influence of Lilacs (Clover Valley Press, 2010). She is the 2012-14 Poet Laureate of Duluth, Minnesota.
Mara Hart writes memoir in prose and poetry. Her book, Lovecraft's New York Circle, was published in 2007 by Hippocampus Press.
Pamela Mittlefehldt is a poet and mystery writer. She is working on a collection of essays about the meaning of place.
In a world of increasing change and mobility, these writings explore our most fundamental concerns for self-identity: what is our home, where have we come from, who am I?
From "The House Made of Words":
Some day I will havea house made of words.It will be all windows and doors,with the words placed in rows,each one leading to the next,the way the presentwears the face of the past.
Jim Perlman is the founding editor and publisher of Holy Cow! Press.
Deborah Cooper is the author of Under the Influence of Lilacs (Clover Valley Press, 2010). She is the 2012-14 Poet Laureate of Duluth, Minnesota.
Mara Hart writes memoir in prose and poetry. Her book, Lovecraft's New York Circle, was published in 2007 by Hippocampus Press.
Pamela Mittlefehldt is a poet and mystery writer. She is working on a collection of essays about the meaning of place.
- GenresShort Stories
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2013
9 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 23, 2014
Home is where your heart is. Home is the underlying theme of literature and at the heart of all our lives. In this lovely edition several authors and poets contributed their poems and prose surrounding the theme of home. The book is broken into six parts, based on themes the submitted work had in common.
I loved this book. Everyday, I read one poem or work of prose. I met a new authors (their bios are in the back of the book) or I was reminded of why I enjoy the writing of others. This was one book I looked forwarded to reading everyday. I found poems to share with my class. I found poems that made me laugh, cry, think and ponder. There are so many good things waiting for you in the pages of this book.
I want to share so many of these poems with you. They are so good. I am only going to share one and then you need to read the book for yourself, it will touch your heart. I think this poem is my favorite but I have many favorites, so it is my favorite today. Let me know what you think. I love it.
House of Dreams and Stars and Life
by Charlene Langfur
Today the house is like a lotus, singular, afloat, an artist's piece.
Later, deeper in the night, when I'm asleep, it's on the edge of unsettling land.
Part of it is a boat with float to it, a movable vessel,
a safety net in the middle of what I try to imagine
is coming near. I hear the house in the night. Its voice. How it sounds in the
dark
is different than in the day.
How it holds us in place in an expanding universe,
a touchstone, lone, readied, the spirit's guide.
This willowy fragile house that holds me in it,
house of dreams and stars and life, an ark of wishes,
a shelter to hold ideas in place and warm the body all at once,
decorated with lucky charms, iconic family pictures
a history of mysterious dreams
and lights in the window seen from far away.
How far? Gravity's angel. Earth. The dog hums. Tides magnetize.
Stories and shelters. A roof to keep it.
And this one, my own is dry, clear, plain.
An embrace of space. House.
A universe patched to another.
From the roof of the house in the night, I see each star, markers
holding me in place
like Chinese lanterns in the summer, like charms in the pocket,
totems, tiny lights against an endless dark.
Earth's mantle, yes, Earth's shelter. It is always more.
Doors and windows. The planet's graces. We know
so much and even so still get lost, the love inside the house
disappeared, nearly gone while out for the afternoon.
In what room did it get lost? Turn sideways.
Clouds ascending. Water in the air. But the house is safe.
As I write this, it is. Worlds moving in orbit
and us aboard the vessel's back.
The simple of it keeps us balanced. Earth moves. The head tilts.
The tides rise. The dog's low deep sound, almost an alarm.
I listen, calm as a child, to the low orderly
music of the spheres. The house, not lost in space this day,
no flying off, no house with wings. It is not gone with a magician's snap
of his fingers. Thunder. Moon rise. Surprise bells on the porch in the night.
Stories on the land in the front yard, stories in the pocket.
House of earth dreams. Shelter in the night. Tonight the house is safe.
I loved this book. Everyday, I read one poem or work of prose. I met a new authors (their bios are in the back of the book) or I was reminded of why I enjoy the writing of others. This was one book I looked forwarded to reading everyday. I found poems to share with my class. I found poems that made me laugh, cry, think and ponder. There are so many good things waiting for you in the pages of this book.
I want to share so many of these poems with you. They are so good. I am only going to share one and then you need to read the book for yourself, it will touch your heart. I think this poem is my favorite but I have many favorites, so it is my favorite today. Let me know what you think. I love it.
House of Dreams and Stars and Life
by Charlene Langfur
Today the house is like a lotus, singular, afloat, an artist's piece.
Later, deeper in the night, when I'm asleep, it's on the edge of unsettling land.
Part of it is a boat with float to it, a movable vessel,
a safety net in the middle of what I try to imagine
is coming near. I hear the house in the night. Its voice. How it sounds in the
dark
is different than in the day.
How it holds us in place in an expanding universe,
a touchstone, lone, readied, the spirit's guide.
This willowy fragile house that holds me in it,
house of dreams and stars and life, an ark of wishes,
a shelter to hold ideas in place and warm the body all at once,
decorated with lucky charms, iconic family pictures
a history of mysterious dreams
and lights in the window seen from far away.
How far? Gravity's angel. Earth. The dog hums. Tides magnetize.
Stories and shelters. A roof to keep it.
And this one, my own is dry, clear, plain.
An embrace of space. House.
A universe patched to another.
From the roof of the house in the night, I see each star, markers
holding me in place
like Chinese lanterns in the summer, like charms in the pocket,
totems, tiny lights against an endless dark.
Earth's mantle, yes, Earth's shelter. It is always more.
Doors and windows. The planet's graces. We know
so much and even so still get lost, the love inside the house
disappeared, nearly gone while out for the afternoon.
In what room did it get lost? Turn sideways.
Clouds ascending. Water in the air. But the house is safe.
As I write this, it is. Worlds moving in orbit
and us aboard the vessel's back.
The simple of it keeps us balanced. Earth moves. The head tilts.
The tides rise. The dog's low deep sound, almost an alarm.
I listen, calm as a child, to the low orderly
music of the spheres. The house, not lost in space this day,
no flying off, no house with wings. It is not gone with a magician's snap
of his fingers. Thunder. Moon rise. Surprise bells on the porch in the night.
Stories on the land in the front yard, stories in the pocket.
House of earth dreams. Shelter in the night. Tonight the house is safe.
February 6, 2017
Of course home is such a broad term and one that can encompass so many diverse emotions and thoughts... it is a topic that I come back to again and again and I enjoyed this anthology of writing.
Want to read
October 1, 2013shameless self-promotion; my poem "What Holds Me" is included in this anthology
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews