The AK wants to tell a different truth— a truth ungarbled that is so obvious no one could possibly mistake its meaning. If you look down the cyclops-eye of the barrel what you'll see is a boy with trousers rolled above his ankles. You'll see a mouth of bone moving in syllables that have the rapid-fire clarity of a weapon that can fire 600 rounds a minute. —from "Oracle" Station Zed is the terminal outpost beyond which is the unknown. It is also the poet Tom Sleigh's finest work. In this latest collection, Sleigh brings to these poems his experiences as a journalist on tours of Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq, and Libya. But these are also dispatches from places of grief, history, and poetic traditions as varied as Scottish ballads and the journeys of Basho.
One of our most gifted poets, Sleigh reveals with vigor and delicacy the connections forged between the dead and the living. Waking is a moving narrative of the creation of the self. ". . . . it takes a book like Tom Sleigh's Waking to remind us of all that was most innately stirring and necessary about the confessional insurrection. . . . in Waking Sleigh proves himself worthy of spinning gold thread from the straw of sincerity, elevating his so-called confessions from the merely revealing to the durably revelatory."—David Barber, Poetry "[Sleigh] is a consummate stylist whose formal control and exploitation of convention is graceful and calm. And yet it is from the calm and steady control that some of Sleigh's most emotionally powerful moments are acheived. . . .Waking is one of the strongest collections of poems to appear in the last few years."—Michael Collier, Partisan Review "Tom Sleigh's second book of poems, Waking is so fine one can hardly do justice to it in a review. The second poem, 'Ending,' is a remarkable piece of work which introduces the notion of the 'hook'—which hooks us to life even while it kills us. It is a presence of painful mortality which haunts the rest of the book."—Liz Rosenberg, New York Times Book Review "Waking handsomely and affirmatively demonstrates its own clean and demanding premise: one's imagination is awakened to life by the burden of mortality. One reads in these poems a view not of the poet's suffering, but of our own temporal joys and sorrows."—Jay Meek, Hungry Mind Review "With the publication of Waking, his second collection of poems, Tom Sleigh establishes his voice among the strongest of his generation. A poet of subject and craft, his skill allows him to avoid the slackness of much free verse and, at the same time, break free of the stiff old numbers in order to create a spoken language of rhythmic intensity and eloquence. . . . In this book Tom Sleigh's vigilance provides his readers with an invaluable gift: we can wake our lives."—Stuart Dischell, Boston Review
Tom Sleigh’s brilliant new collection is “full of the wonder and eloquence driving profound poetry” (Los Angeles Times) You’ve got to put your pants on in the house of fact. And in the house of fact, when you take off your shirt, you can hear your shirt cry out, Facts are the floor, facts are how you make the right side talk to the left. I’m washing my naked belly clean, and doing it with dignity. I’m turning around, trying to see the filthiness that keeps making me filthy. —from “House of Fact, House of Ruin” “I hate to admit it, but even the house of fact is a house of ruin,” writes Tom Sleigh in the title sequence of this extraordinary new collection. Very much of our present moment, in which fact can so easily be manufactured and ruin so easily achieved by pressing "Send" or pulling a trigger, these poems range across the landscapes of contemporary experience. Whether a militia in Libya or a military base in Baghdad, a shantytown in East Africa or an opulent mall on Long Island, these subjects and locations resonate with the psychic and social costs of having let the genie of war, famine, and climate change out of the lamp in the first place. The book ultimately turns on conundrums of selfhood and self-estrangement in which Sleigh urges us toward a different realm, where we might achieve the freedom of spirit to step outside our own circumstances, however imperfectly, and look at ourselves as other, as unfamiliar, as strange. House of Fact, House of Ruin is Sleigh’s most engaging and virtuosic collection to date.
In The Dreamhouse, Tom Sleigh's poetry is a medium for both revelation and linguistic invention. The meditative clarity of Sleigh's poems, his ability to range between the plain and high style with complete naturalness of intonation, and the varying and always surprising musical effects he accomplishes in each poem display his unequaled flair for innovation that is never willful or forced but which always works to forward the poems' emotional and intellectual resonances. The Dreamhouse marks Sleigh as one of the most inventive and provocative poets of his generation. Praise for Tom Sleigh: "Through sheer artistry, Tom Sleigh manages to write . . . in a transcendent way, and without appeal to the metaphysical assumptions transcendence usually requires. The Chain . . . floods darkness with brilliant craft."—Gray Jacobik, Boston Globe "Tom Sleigh's second book of poems, Waking, is so fine one can hardly do justice to it in a review. . . . Sleigh is nearly as prodigal with his gifts as Yeats."—Liz Rosenberg, New York Times Book Review
These essays recount Tom Sleigh's experiences working as a journalist during several tours in Africa and in the Middle Eastern region once called Mesopotamia, "the land between two rivers." Sleigh asks three central questions: What did I see? How could I write about it? Why did I write about it? The first essays focus on the lives of refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kenya, Somalia, and Iraq. Under the conditions of military occupation, famine, and war, their stories can be harrowing, even desperate. But unlike their depiction in mass media, their stories are often laced with an undeluded hopefulness. The second part of this book explores how writing might be capable of honoring the texture of these individuals' experiences while remaining faithful to political emotions, rather than political convictions. The final essays meditate on youth, restlessness, illness, and Sleigh's motivations for writing his own experiences in order to move out into the world."--Back cover.
The jointed Santas in this book are delightful, and they are easily carved. With step-by-step color photo illustrations you go from the carving to the joint construction to the painting. In addition to the Santa carved in the book, there are patterns for 8 others plus a nice sleigh.
This book, "Tom's Poetry: from back when to right now", is a collection of poems I've written over several decades. Many have been published in anthologies, newspapers and magazines, and my own books. They address five different time periods and themes, starting with early days, e.g. "Growing up," to " Family and friends" to "The world we live in now.". My poems cover a variety of topics and experiences: my youth, relationships, where I lived and hung out, our special San Diego natural worlds, and holidays. They're all in the rhyming class and many are humorous..
Our hero lives in the Pacific Northwestern town of Siumberville, comprised mostly Of Scandanavian descendants, who have great faith in "Kris Kringle" (Santa Claus). Tommy enjoys their celebrations at Christmastime, but he refuses to believe in Santa Claus. He wins a contract to deliver the Christmas mail, hoping to make enough money to start a business and be married. He and his dog make a great pair delivering mail In town and thru the surrounding mountains. On their last delivery on Christmas eve they are in an accident and nearly Perish. Guess who saves them from a snowy death????
Move over, Rudolph! It's time for the Christmasaurus to lead Santa's sleigh. The Christmasaurus is a dinosaur who lives with Santa Claus and his elves at the North Pole. More than anything, he wants to fly with Santa's reindeer on Christmas Eve! But no matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to figure out how to fly. . . . Until one Christmas Eve, when he meets a young boy in a wheelchair who has a wonderful idea. What if all the Christmasaurus needs is someone to believe in him? With playful, rhyming text, international bestselling author Tom Fletcher adapts part of his novel into a heartwarming picture book about friendship and the power of believing that is sure to become a new Christmas classic.
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