Book Bash: Celebrating Poetry of Presence II
- WHAT: A celebration of Poetry of Presence II: More Mindfulness Poems (published May, 2023). More details about the anthology below.
- WHEN: Tuesday, June 27, 2023, 6:30PM Central (7:30PM Eastern, 5:30PM Mountain, 4:30PM Pacific)
- FREE BUT REGISTRATION REQUIRED.
- THIS EVENT WILL NOT BE RECORDED.
- FEATURING these amazing poets (left-right, top-bottom): Annette Grunseth, Christen Careaga, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Marjorie Saiser, Laura Ann Reed, Thomas Smith, Ellery Akers, Gloria Heffernan, and Barbara Crooker. They will read one of their own poems plus another poem they appreciate from the collection. The program will conclude with a brief conversation about the importance of (mindfulness) poetry to a healthy society.
This follow-up volume to the immensely popular Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems contains nearly 140 poems, most by contemporary or recent poets.
Many of the poems delve into relational or social mindfulness, helping you explore “the tough stuff” of living among others with presence. They invite you to face relational challenges without turning away from them. To deepen your awareness of them. To seek equanimity in the midst of them. To address them with compassion, hope, courage, and humility.
“These mindfulness poems help us wake up to the suffering of people who are different from us. That’s a long process—I’ll be waking up until the moment I die. But once we start to wake up, we enter the conversation on human rights. We want to tend those afflicted by the ways of this world. God was sneaky, giving us beautiful poetry to get us involved!”
—Sister Helen Prejean, leading voice for death penalty abolition, author of Dead Man Walking and River of Fire
Anthologized poets include Ellen Bass • Wendell Berry • Lucille Clifton • Albert Garcia • Ross Gay • Amanda Gorman • Thich Nhat Hanh • Joy Harjo • Linda Hogan • Ted Kooser • Dorianne Laux • Li-Young Lee • Ada Limón • W. S. Merwin • Naomi Shihab Nye • Mary Oliver • Rainer Maria Rilke • Rumi • William Stafford • Joyce Sutphen • Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer • David Whyte • and many more.