Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza
Mosab Abu Toha

This is a debut collection by Mosab Abu Toha and it’s magnificent. The last book I read before reading this collection was Bittersweet by Susan Cain—a book about how not only is hardship inevitable, it often leads to amazing creative offerings. This couldn’t have been a better prelude to reading Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear. The author has drawn on his childhood in Gaza for the material of this collection. I’d be hard-pressed to tell you if the most common word in the collection is bomb or shrapnel or F-16s.With that heartbreaking material, an incredible and beautiful creative offering has risen from its ashes. The poems range in length from 4 lines to 11 pages, filled with family and death and hardship and beauty.
Here is part I of the collection’s title poem:

 When you open my ear, touch it
 gently.
 
My mother’s voice lingers somewhere inside.
 Her voice is the echo that helps recover my equilibrium
 when I feel dizzy during my attentiveness.
  
 You may encounter songs in Arabic,
 poems in English I recite to myself,
 or a song I chant to the chirping birds in our backyard.

 When you stitch the cut, don’t forget to put all these back in my ear.
 Put them back in order as you would do with books on your shelf.

To read the rest of the poem, visit: poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/155510/things-you-may-find-hidden-in-my-ear

Not Overly Poetic Poems
Edited by Kerry Casey

There’s all kinds of poetry – from The Epic of Gilgamesh to Shel Silverstein to Rumi to Mary Oliver. Well-established and beloved novelist Kerry Casey (Fall to Grace, Runt, The Wager, Slender Wish, The Singer) offers Volume One of Kerry Casey’s Not Overly Poetic Poems. These fun, short observances of life (ie: the author overhears his wife telling their son he’ll like sex at college…….whoops, she said stats) intend to exclude no one. As the author explains:

“…..You’ll find poems about bacon, cancer, dogs, mothers, Cheetos, love, politics, children, aging and more. I think you’ll like them. They aren’t overly pretentious, overly predictable or overly poetic.”

Dip in and enjoy!

How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope

A year ago the world was blessed with this gem of a poetry collection, edited by James Crews.

The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection and Joy
Edited by James Crews

And now……….there’s a new one coming out this month! Again it includes some of my favorite poets and I suspect some of my future favorite poets. The Path to Kindness, offers more than 100 deeply felt and relatable poems from a diverse range of voices including well-known writers Julia Alvarez, Marie Howe, Ellen Bass, Naomi Shihab Nye, Alberto Ríos, Ross Gay, and Ada Limón, as well as new and emerging voices. Featured Black poets include January Gill O’Neil, Tracy K. Smith, and Cornelius Eady. Native American poets include Kimberly Blaeser, Joy Harjo (current U.S. Poet Laureate), and Linda Hogan. The collection also features international voices, including Canadian poets Lorna Crozier and Susan Musgrave. Presented in the same perfect-in-the-hand format as How to Love the World, the collection includes prompts for journaling and exploration of selected poems, a book group guide, bios of all the contributing poets, and stunning cover art by award-winning artist Dinara Mirtalipova. A foreword by Danusha Laméris, along with her popular poem "Small Kindnesses," is also included.