The Poetry category has 514 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 598 ratings. The most-rated is Unlearn.
Owed
Summary
From "one of the most impressive voices in poetry today" (Dissent magazine), a new collection that shines a light on forgotten or obscured parts of the past in order to reconstruct a deeper, truer vision of the present. Gregory Pardlo described Joshua Bennett's first collection of poetry, The Sobbing School, as an "arresting debut" that was "abounding in tenderness and rich with character", with a "virtuosic kind of code switching". Bennett's new collection, Owed, is a book with celebration at its center. Its primary concern is how we might mend the relationship between ourselves and the people, spaces, and objects we have been taught to think of as insignificant, as fundamentally unworthy of study, reflection, attention, or care. Spanning the spectrum of genre and form - from elegy and ode to origin myth - these poems elaborate an aesthetics of repair. What's more, they ask that we turn to the songs and sites of the historically denigrated so that we might uncover a new way of being in the world together, one wherein we can truthfully reckon with the brutality of the past and thus imagine the possibilities of our shared, unpredictable present, anew.
©2020 Joshua Bennett (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth
Summary
What elevates Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth, what gives the poems their disturbing brilliance, is Warsan Shire's ability to give simple, beautiful eloquence to the veiled world where sensuality lives in the dominant narrative of Islam, reclaiming the more nuanced truths of earlier times - as in Tayeb Salih's work - and translating to the realm of lyric the work of the likes of Nawal El Saadawi. As Rumi said, "Love will find its way through all languages on its own"; in Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth, Warsan's début, we witness the unearthing of a poet who finds her way through all preconceptions to strike the heart directly.
©2013 Warsan Shire (P)2017 Random House Audio
Love Poems for Married People
Summary
New York Times best seller Based on his wildly popular New Yorker piece, Thurber Prize-winner John Kenney presents a hilarious collection of love poems for, well, married people. Full of brilliant wit, dynamic energy, and a heavy dose of reality, Love Poems for Married People takes the poetic form, turns it upside-down, and leaves it in the dishwasher to dry. Inspired by one of the most shared New Yorker pieces of all time, this collection captures the reality of life once the spark of a relationship has settled - and hilariously so. With brand new pieces that cover all areas of married life, from parental gripes to dwindling sex lives, Kenney's wry observations and sharp humor remind us exactly what it's like to spend the rest of your life with the person you love. I was almost feeling fondness for you As you gave me a shoulder massage at the sink - What a small, lovely surprise. And then you grabbed my boobs and made a "wha-wha" noise. In an instant, I felt disgust and sadness and regret.
©2018 John Kenney (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Love Poems for People with Children
Summary
One of Fredericksburg Free Lance Star's Best Books of 2019 In the spirit of his wildly popular New Yorker pieces and the New York Times best seller Love Poems for Married People, Thurber Prize winner John Kenney presents a hilarious new collection of poetry for people with children. With the same brilliant wit and hilarious realism that made Love Poems for Married People such a hit, John Kenney is back with a brand new collection of poems, this time taking on the greatest "joy" in life: children. Kenney covers it all, from newborns, toddlers, and sleep deprivation, to the terrible twos, terrible tweens, and terrible teens. A parent's love is unconditional, but sometimes that button can't help but be pushed. Between back to school shopping, summer vacations that never end, the awkwardness of puberty, the inevitable post-college moving back in, and more, a parent's job is never done, whether they like it or not.
©2019 John Kenney (P)2020 Penguin Audio
Rupert Brooke
Summary
Rupert Brooke's greatest poetic works including "The Fish", "The Soldier", "The Old Vicarage", "Grantchester", and "Ding-Room Tea" are superbly melded here with testimony from acquaintances of Brooke's and a well-researched narrative by Mike Read. In this comprehensive production including poetry, interviews, and biography, we hear about such intreguing areas of Brooke's life as the women in his complicated love life and the inspiration and source of his numerous revered poems. Brooke died at 27 years old on his way to fight the Turks in Gallipoli, buried abroad so there truly is now "some corner of a foreign field that is forever England".
©1997 CSA Word (P)2008 CSA Word
There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce
Summary
A TIME Magazine Best Paperback of 2017 A Publishers Weekly Best Poetry Collection of Spring A Paris Review Staff Pick A Most Anticipated Book of 2017 at NPR.org, BuzzFeed, VICE, NYLON, and more The only thing more beautiful than Beyoncé is God, and God is a black woman sipping rosé and drawing a lavender bath, texting her mom, belly laughing in the therapist's office, feeling unloved, being on display, daring to survive. Morgan Parker stands at the intersections of vulnerability and performance, of desire and disgust, of tragedy and excellence. Unrelentingly feminist, tender, ruthless, and sequined, these poems are an altar to the complexities of black American womanhood in an age of non-indictments and déjà vu and a time of wars over bodies and power. These poems celebrate and mourn. They are a chorus chanting: You're gonna give us the love we need.
©2017 Morgan Parker (P)2017 Audible, Inc.
Homie
Summary
Danez Smith is our president Homie is Danez Smith's magnificent anthem about the saving grace of friendship. Rooted in the loss of one of Smith's close friends, this book comes out of the search for joy and intimacy within a nation where both can seem scarce and getting scarcer. In poems of rare power and generosity, Smith acknowledges that in a country overrun by violence, xenophobia, and disparity, and in a body defined by race, queerness, and diagnosis, it can be hard to survive, even harder to remember reasons for living. But then the phone lights up, or a shout comes up to the window, and family - blood and chosen - arrives with just the right food and some redemption. Part friendship diary, part bright elegy, part war cry, Homie is the exuberant new book written for Danez and for Danez's friends and for you and for yours.
©2020 Danez Smith (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
When Love Rises
Summary
Poetry about life that celebrates love, offers comfort in heartbreak, and inspiration to heal, move forward, and try love again. In this emotional thriller of contemporary prose and poetic reflections, you will discover the many sides to love, from unrestrained joy of the first flutter of a new romance, to the pain of heartbreak, and the journey to healing and finding the inspiration to try at love again. It is organized into three sections - The Love, In the Dark, and The Light - to help you connect immediately to the emotion you are experiencing. With poems as short as the four lines of "Sparks", to longer and more thought-provoking verse such as "Wasted", there is something for everyone to connect to as their own. And whether you are picking it up in a snatched moment during a busy day or settling down for an evening with a relaxing glass of wine, When Love Rises offers something that will touch the soul of any listener.
©2019 Michelle G. Stradford (P)2019 Michelle G. Stradford
Rise Unstoppable
Summary
Rise Unstoppable is an uplifting poetry collection about self-love that amplifies the beauty and intrinsic power of women and girls. From self-care affirmations to the celebration of accomplishment, this book takes you on the path of self-awareness, acknowledgment of one’s needs, and allows you to step into your courage to transform into an unstoppable force. Among the themes are self-created barriers, personal trauma, unhealthy relationships, workplace challenges, and the social and racial injustices that many of us face. Rise Unstoppable is organized by the following chapters: self-care, transform, amplify, rise, and unstoppable. Each section offers comfort, encouragement, and perspective on life experiences.
©2020 Michelle G. Stradford (P)2020 Michelle G. Stradford
B
Summary
A whimsical love letter, a shared promise, a thank you note, and a whispered secret to mothers and daughters everywhere. The perfect gift, B celebrates the bond that exists between a parent and a child. Short and touching, it is a family tradition waiting to begin.
©2015 Sarah Kay (P)2015 Hachette Audio
Le Testament
Summary
L'œuvre principale de François Villon. Digressions sur l'injustice, la fuite du temps, la mort, la sagesse... Villon n'a pas uniquement renouvelé la forme de la poésie de son époque mais aussi la façon de traiter les thèmes poétiques hérités de la culture médiévale qu'il anime de sa propre personnalité. Il prend ainsi à contre-pied l'idéal courtois, renverse les valeurs admises en célébrant les gueux promis au gibet. Rencontre entre deux rockers passionnés de la langue française, jongleurs de mots et conteurs d'histoires populaires.
©Domaine public (P)2016 Éditions Thélème
Summer Snow
Summary
A major collection of entirely new poems from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of Time and Materials and The Apple Trees at Olema.... A new volume of poetry from Robert Hass is always an event. In Summer Snow, his first collection of poems since 2010, Hass further affirms his position as one of our most highly regarded living poets. Hass’s trademark careful attention to the natural world, his subtle humor, and the delicate but wide-ranging eye he casts on the human experience are fully on display in his masterful collection. Touching on subjects including the poignancy of loss, the serene and resonant beauty of nature, and the mutability of desire, Hass exhibits his virtuosic abilities, expansive intellect, and tremendous listenability in one of his most ambitious and formally brilliant collections to date.
©2020 Robert Hass (P)2020 HarperAudio
A Little History of Poetry
Summary
The Bookseller (UK) Editor's Choice A vital, engaging, and hugely enjoyable guide to poetry, from ancient times to the present, by one of our greatest champions of literature What is poetry? If music is sound organized in a particular way, poetry is a way of organizing language. It is language made special so that it will be remembered and valued. It does not always work - over the centuries countless thousands of poems have been forgotten. This little history is about some that have not. John Carey tells the stories behind the world’s greatest poems, from the oldest surviving one written nearly four thousand years ago to those being written today. Carey looks at poets whose works shape our views of the world, such as Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Whitman, and Yeats. He also looks at more recent poets, like Derek Walcott, Marianne Moore, and Maya Angelou, who have started to question what makes a poem “great” in the first place. This little history shines a light on the richness and variation of the world’s poems - and the elusive quality that makes them all the more enticing.
©2020 John Carey (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing
I'm Rising
Summary
Powerful and inspirational self-love poems, prose, and mantras take the listener on an emotive journey of empowerment through life’s triumphs and tribulations. This uplifting book is more than a mere collection of poetic musings; it serves as a powerful tool of self-love and personal transformation that belongs on every fierce soul’s bookshelf - or better yet, on their nightstand for their daily dose of inspiration each time they rise. I'm Rising inspires one to tap into their infinite potential so they can overcome any obstacle that appears on their unique path. Through heartfelt storytelling, alliterative diction, and soul-awakening themes, this empathic work instills each listener with an unwavering sense of perseverance, courage, and compassion. The collection offers poems for women and men, urging us to stretch and grow to our fullest potential. The prose provides encouraging words with a call to action to harness our self-confidence to achieve the goals we were destined to shatter. Whether in search of a connection, shared experiences, healing thoughts, or encouragement, this self-help collection offers ready salves to our daily life experiences. I'm Rising is organized into three chapters entitled "Evolving", "Resilience", and "Rising" to aid in finding those special words meant for us.
©2019 Michelle G Stradford (P)2020 Michelle G Stradford
Sparks of Phoenix
Summary
As the phoenix emerges from its ashes, Zebian emerges ablaze in this book, not only as a survivor of abuse, but as a teacher and healer for all those who have struggled to understand, reclaim, and rise above a history of pain. She tells her story in six stages: Falling, Burning to Ashes, Sparks of Phoenix, Rising, Soaring, and finally, A New Chapter, which demonstrates a healthy response to new love as the result of authentic healing. With her characteristic vulnerability, courage, and softness, Zebian seeks to empower those who have been made to feel ashamed, silenced, or afraid; she urges them, through gentle advice and personal revelation, to raise their voices, rise up, and soar.
©2019 Najwa Zebian. All rights reserved. (P)2019 Andrews McMeel Publishing
Ballads of a Cheechacko
Summary
Ballads of a Cheechako is the sophomore volume of Yukon inspired verse from Scottish/Canadian poet Robert W. Service. After the enormous success of Service's debut book Song of a Sourdough, he was transferred with his job as a bank clerk from Whitehorse to Dawson City. There he met many veterans of the Klondike Gold Rush who were eager to tell him their tales of adventure, and he was eager to listen. After leaving his job at the bank and moving into what is now his iconic cabin on 8th Avenue in Dawson City, he began his career as a full-time author. He used his talent as a wordsmith to take the tales of the characters, hardships, and trials of the north, and fashion them into a collection of ballads full or heart, humor, and humanity. Published in 1909, the book was an immediate success and catapulted Robert W. Service to a household name around North America. This volume contains 22 verses exploring interesting characters and life in the early days of Canada's last frontier. From the man who staked the northern lights, to the Mounted Police, to hard-luck prospectors, and beyond, this book contains much of the framework for the collective vision we all share when we hear the word Klondike.
Public Domain (P)2019 Jonathan Ostrander
A Modern Day Black Woman's Poetry: Volume 1
Summary
In her first published work, A Modern Day Black Woman's Book of Poetry, Volume 1: Two Decades of Growth and Change, Shamar Starks-Ward shares heart, soul, experiences, and changing points of view with her cherished listeners. These poems are an unapologetic collection from the ink pin of a Black woman that range from the immature perspective of an 18-year-old with an old soul to a mature 42-year-old that has weathered many storms, joys, pains, loss, and gains. Here, you will witness a growth and change in perception as well as poetic expression.
©2018 Shamar Starks-Ward (P)2018 Shamar Starks-Ward
Orchids and Neurons
Summary
We live on a planet that is a thin place - a place where time and light continually intersect. And yet we are taught to experience life as thick. When we move intentionally through the thickness that surrounds us and perceive light, we can begin to punch peep-holes into and through time. I, as poet, live a solitary 4-P journey with the partners of prose, poetry, photography, and prayer. In my journey of time and light, I’ve learned that I can free myself from the ballast of ordinary time and soar in the light. This is time travel for me. The most redemptive partner of my four is poetry. The process seizes me, and I become consumed by the emerging poem until it is complete. Poetry and prayer are closely related, at times with a loss of boundaries. I have written poetry since I was an eight year old girl on the Canadian prairies. I simply cannot imagine life without poetry. Orchids and Neurons is an exploration of poetry as molecular and metaphysical, as highly musically-patterned and ontological. The poet is a simply a medium used in a complex process. In this recent body of work, may you discern my process and see yours.
©2018 Ellyn Peirson (P)2019 Ellyn Peirson
Dandelion
Summary
New York Times best-selling author Gabbie Hanna delivers everything from curious musings to gut-wrenching confessionals in her long-awaited sophomore collection of poetry. This edition includes a collection of uncomfortably honest personal essays about Gabbie’s childhood and relationships. In this thrilling installment of the inner-workings of Gabbie’s mind, we’re taken on a journey of self-loathing, self-reflection, and ultimately, self-acceptance through deeply metaphorical imagery, chilling twists on child-like rhymes, and popular turns of phrase turned on their heads. Through raw, provocative tidbits, Dandelion explores what it means to struggle with a declining mental health in a world where mental health is both stigmatized and trivialized. The poems range from topics of rage and despair to downright silliness, so if you don’t know whether to laugh or cry, just laugh until you cry. Includes Gabbie Hanna’s single “Dandelion”, which was inspired by this book.
©2020 The Gabbie Show, Inc. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
When the Stars Wrote Back
Summary
In the vein of poetry collections like Milk and Honey and Light Filters In, this compilation of short, powerful poems from Instagram sensation Trista Mateer shines beauty and insight into relationships, love, growing up, and learning to cope. When the Stars Wrote Back features completely new material, plus some fan favorites from Trista's account. This powerful collection unpacks how to heal from trauma, explores love in many forms, and empowers you to love yourself and take up the space you deserve. "Big Bang Theory" what happens if we collide? will it feel like atoms bursting? will it burn like light? will your hands feel the same as other people's hands? will the whole world change if we touch? do you want to find out?
©2020 Trista Mateer (P)2020 Listening Library