but because it is beautiful. Her photography is stunning and her poetry is ...
594614
I have read this book three times now and not because I know Cheryl, but because it is beautiful.  Her photography is stunning and her poetry is universal, relatable and lovely.  Some of it is dark, some of it light, but there is an underlying theme of hope and strength and love.  I have and will continue to recommend, "I am a Woman Not a Winston"!!!  This is a wonderful debut and I look forward to future collections by C. Churchill
1408542
Elizabeth Harper Neeld adds yet another amazing dimension to her body of work. Her newest book, With Eyes Wide Open, underscores a newly discovered talent -- her photography. I love the sensitivity and humor of her creative genius. She captures the beauty of the world around her with photos that are simply extraordinary, and each page is joyful. An incredible work of art from Ms. Neeld's camera, and I love every entry. I delighted in each page. I've given the book to five friends, and each person has expressed my shared sentiments.
1667240
One thing thats problematic about the book for me is that the photos are so beautiful I couldn't take my eyes off them long enough to read the poems, reflections and sayings which are beautiful in their own right. I finally got to them after the fourth time I picked up the volume. The photographs are that magnificent. Some bring me back to the memory of gorgeous scenes Ive experienced in Maine and around Amagansett. Others have an abstract feeling to them and remind me of Mark Rothkos or Barnett Newmans canvases, artists that feature color fields and bring a spiritual quality to their work. This book would make a lovely gift to mark any family, friendship, holiday or loving  occasion.
1784427
I did not purchase this book on amazon. However, this book is beautiful.  Every page the art amazes me.
The poetic words are beautiful.
I so wish i could get posters of some of the pages to hang on my daughter's wall.
3893857
The array of excellent poetry and elegant, arresting photography make this book a wonder. Greg Delanty, Seamus Heaney, Maxine Kumin, Grace Paley, Major Jackson, Galway Kinnell, Frost and many others are in this stunning collection, along with photographers in the Ansel Adams tradition. An important look at the environment through the eyes of artists, with commentary by Bill McKibben of 350.org.
4304406
There is so much in this book of poems that I don't even know where to begin. This is some beautiful stuff!

First, I want to praise slot for her narrative arcs in poems: Many of these poems (though certainly not all) are driven by her talent for crafting a narrative, but never falling into the trap of being chopped prose. Even with the story, the breaks are carefully chosen, the metaphors vivid and meaningful, and the places the poems take flight from and land to are always surprising or meditative and meaningful. For instance, her poem "The Architects: Guests of Perspicacity" details a speaker and husband finding a nest while gardening and watching the hatching and growth and disappearance of the birds through the spring. The poem ends: "In three short weeks, they are issued an order:/one by one they depart,/until we are again just two,/leaning against each other, staring at an abandoned home,/haunted by what was granted,/what we took, in those few/ weeks of spring." One can't read the end of this poem and think it's only about the birds anymore, but about any kind of nurturing and the loss of it in your life, the swift passage of time.

But narrative is not Slot's only talent, she also writes lyric in a passionate and confident style. The whole book is woven together with lyric prose poems about drowning and rescue. The narrative is not clear: who is drowning? The speaker, a child? Is this a birth poem? Is the person rescued? None of it was ever discernible except for the terror, the haunting, the passion to survive, the struggle to rescue what you treasure: the clarity of the emotion makes the series a typhoon in and of themselves--you can't stop reading them.

Additionally, I just loved Slot's range in topic matter. I generally prefer books that are cohesive in theme and even narrative, and Slot has a loose cohesion in terms of the quest for beauty in the abyss, but she looks for it in all sorts of places: motherhood, a marriage, Greek Mythology, an urn, a robin's nest, even Ars Poeticas. And she explores them all well: she reveals a strong poetic range in technique and an insatiable curiosity with the world, which is the mark of a true poet.

I could go on; there is a lot to praise here. And I have a slew of favorite poems. Just get the book: it's incredibly satisfying and beautifully crafted.
333209
I've barely had a chance to do more than leaf through the book so far, but even just doing that sent chills down my spine.  This lady is a talented photographer and the images captured in this book are absolutely breathtaking.  My wife has already sat down with the book and looked over every page, even though she has little interest in urbex or Soviet history.  Truly an amazing collection of work from a superb artist!
866482
The incredible photography is what first grabs you - and indeed, it's published as a beautiful coffee-table style book. But once you start reading the text, it's hard to stop. Burhardt is a gifted storyteller and a poetic wordsmith. She shines an insightful light on a country that is so rich and complex - and so misunderstood. You will feel as if you are living the adventure with her - which is the sign of any great read.
1079438
Claire Everett's poetic abilities are evident even in her choice of tanka to publish. It is an honor to appear in one of her collections.
4191637
There is so much beauty in this book, bought at great price.  If you can take "honest," then buy it and savor it; if you can't, then stay the hell away.  Joyce uses the principles of rap, especially including rapid-fire delivery peppered with repetition and drive-by rhymes, to elevate slam from featureless confessional narrative to experiential fireworks.  Many contemporary poets start with what amounts to a photograph and elaborate their poetry from that image; Joyce starts each poem with a single, focussed emotion, especially including gratitude to those who have both hurt and helped her, and wraps that emotion in complex syntax and showers of polysyllables.  She shares her feelings and her beliefs in the casual, matter of fact way, a friend would, if you were dropping in from out of town for a day-long visit: no punches pulled, the facts laid out in their beauty and their gore as she goes through her daily routine, grateful for someone to talk to.  I especially appreciate the way she speaks of her poetry in the same way epic heroes speak of their swords and shields, their horses: naming it, praising its genesis, its virtues, its uses as if it were as active a character in her life as her mother, her sisters, her daughter, and her men.  This is clearly the work of a woman who, like early Lucille Clifton, goes through a hell of a day, everyday, and once everything is at peace, sits at her kitchen table and writes--in her own voice, a voice she was denied in all of her other daily guises: "Work.poetrrry.love.work.child.maaan. / Some mornings I awake / To make / Breakfast for my man ... Work.child.work.poetrrry.work.child.maaan.dreams.breakfastssss. / Some evenings / I try to write / Away / ... And then I find time / To day dream / I throw myself / Down / A surreal / Wishing well / ... Work.work.dreams.child.maan.me. Ffreedom. Poetrrrry." (from "Life in Abstract")  Screw polite.  Who has time for polite in the presence of such openness?  Go ahead.  Read over her shoulder as she works alone at that kitchen table.
4016647
In the fall of 1978, after I relocated from Colorado to Burlington, Vermont, I came upon an exhibit of black & white portraits of important Vermonters hanging in the front window of the Church Street Center, our city-owned art gallery. It was an ironic moment for me because only a year before, I had walked away from a 17-year career in serious portrait photography. I'd become familiar with all the significant players in this field, yet there I stood, gazing at some of the most beautiful work I'd seen in years. I had no idea who this talented photographer was.

Marion was still living in Burlington at that time, and I asked her if she would take a portrait of me. I was curious to see how she worked and what her interpretation of me might be. She worked in a very deliberate way, moving my arms, legs and head into the exact position she wanted, as if to match an image she already had in her mind. Her photographic technique was beautiful in its simplicity. She used natural window light and pieces of cardboard covered in aluminum foil to illuminate the shadow areas. I had technical training in photography, while Marion had simply evolved her own methods. She knew how to get what she wanted, and the proof can be found in this marvelous book.

Marion's work shows a bit of evolution over these 30 years, but at the same time I am pleased to see that she works basically in the same organic way. Perhaps the only difference is that she has even further mastered her medium as evidenced by the striking sculptural light found in many of the portraits.

Marion has a special way of connecting with her author-subjects. I sense a kind of mutual respect. The faces in this collection all seem to be speaking in a similar language, and that gives this book a powerful emotional resonance. It is much more than a portfolio.
636367
I saw her perform at last year's NYC Poetry Festival and I was hooked. I love her imagery and her letter format. "Rebirth: What We Don't Say" is my favorite. She signed my book and everything ^_^.
4608627
I love the poems in this book.  They are very relevant and the photos on each page are just beautiful!  I have never read a poetry book with such beautiful photos.  I must read for Spanish poetry lovers!
2288733
This is a lovely book. The author, a writer and musician, combines a love for the poetic word with a sense of the poetry in the observed world. Each poem (right-hand page) is accompanied by a photograph (left-hand page). The images and poetry play off one another in ways that surprise and which call one to re-reading and re-examination. The fact that this volume has served as my first serious introduction to a place I had not really known is a bonus. I plan to give this book for Christmas. http://vimeo.com/108142113
820264
In the last decade, I have been startled won-over surprized and dazzled by the works of Carolyn Guinzio. Her work is like a constant renewal of faith in what the elaborate Tibetan poets loved in the bejewelled world. I can't say how sweet her work is, except to say that again and again she seems to be writing something l,ike the Indian sutras of EMForster, if he hugged us to his heart.  Each time I come upon her nature-driven work, I feel that a Song of Songs has been transcribed. None of this is easy; and none of this is  minor or abstruse. Like Virginia Woolf, but without the stones in her pocket, like Rudy Burckhardt transc ribing  NEw York and birch trees as if they were same. And they are. How wonderful Carolyn is for everyone--she is becoming in creasingly my favorite phenomenon, So perfected that I could easily write a hundred pages about her pages. Imagine that some of the best poems of our time are the splash of happiness.
3070673
Wow. The book is beautiful for its words and also its artwork. Every poem is so unique to the story it tells. And, as you delve further into this eloquent weaving of poems inspired by the seasons, you are drawn into the beautiful world that the author creates through her words. A safe place where she describes all of the things we've always struggled to put into words with poems that leave you thinking things like, "Yes, that's exactly how I feel" or "that is the love I'm looking for". Brilliant work from start to finish, with poems you'll enjoy time and time again. Bravo.
4495104
Irma Turtle is a force of nature, an agent of change, a one-woman army of angels... and also (fortunately for us) an incredibly gifted storyteller and photographer. Her book is filled with gorgeous photographs of the indigenous peoples and tribes she has photographed and worked with for 30 years, and her stories are born of the genuine passion of someone who followed their heart to help people too often forgotten. This is not a documentary or a National Geographic- like travelogue, this is deeply personal, and her heart and soul and love shine through on every page. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is interested in the world around them - the beauty of these pages in indescribable, her travels an inspiration. If this sounds like too much, you'll understand when you see this book. It's the real deal, a true jewel.