Title: Trouble And Honey
ISBN: 978-0-9706196-5-5
Poet: Jilly Dybka
Publisher: Bear Shirt Press
Self Published: Yes
Date Published: 2008
Pages: 63

Categories: Rhyme, Sonnet, Stanzaic Verse, Meter

TAGS: Jilly Dybka, Trouble And Honey, Rhyme, Meter, Modern Sonnet, Modern Stanzaic
Verse, Nashville, Detroit, baseball, Formal Poetry

Blog or Author’s Website: poetryhut.com

From the Author:

“Jilly Dybka hears the movement of our lives like a sculptor feels the force of shapes, and there is no arguing what she sees. So textured in sound are these poems, one has to agree *Trouble And Honey*returns language back to its rightful place as the source of our joy.”

Major Jackson: Author of Leaving Saturn and Hoops

Your Experience Self Publishing:

I loathe, loathe, LOATHE the current ridiculous poetry book contest system & would rather not support it, though self-publishing excludes me from established poetry biz things like applying for NEA grants, etc. More thoughts are here.  The book is available as a free download or the paperback can be purchased. So far I’ve had over 700 downloads and fewer than 50 sales.

Lulu.com was easy to work with and I chose lulu.com because I wanted to publish the book as a free download with an option to buy a paperback version. Lulu.com tracks the downloads and sales figures.

I didn’t expect the book to be reviewed, since it is self-published, but I was pleasantly surprised that I did get some reviews – lit mag and on Bookslut.

Sample Poem:

The Reanimation of Ted Williams’ Frozen Head

It is almost imperceptible — the twinkle of ice rime thawing
in an interior steel room filled with exaggerated gases,
near a regal super-neuro-unificator machine.

Everything is silent but for a discontinuous tinkling,
which means the enfolding of the field begins,
which is a prognostication of the heft of the bat,

which means science is in the catbird seat,
conquering the poke and stir of ashes,
so the scientists all incant: *whosoever

liveth and believeth in me shall never die*.
The super-neuro-unificator goes “ding”
and Ted Williams’ head twitches, and

Ted Williams’ head opens his eyes,
and the scientists all step forward,
and the scientists peer down

like Zeuses. They ask: *tell us how
it was, when the air was good,
and tell us about baseball

and green grass Sundays of
left field. Please do
begin*.

§

Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN

So in this town all is nimbus rhinestone
Nudie Suits and fading whiskey cologne.
1950’s Grand Ole Opry, hey June
Carter and Mr. Johnny Cash, no stress-
ing just yes yes underneath the hick moon
painting Lower Broad, everyone obsess-
ing on love done gone wrong, a tree, a snake,
a man’s boots underneath her bed, a moot
marriage, sham union complete with a cake,
hit song, new Cadillac (ain’t she a beaut—
just like Miss Kitty Wells, Nashville’s Garbo…).
The band reels in the bar before they play
behind Hank Williams, Honky Tonk Hobo,
and the night begins scuffling with the day.

Title: Between Wings: poems
Poet: James Long
Pub: Lulu.com
Self-Published: Yes
Date Pub.: Aug. 2008
Pages: 78

Categories: Lyric; Blank verse; Love poetry; Syllabic; Narrative; Imagist

TAGS: Long, Between Wings, Lyric, elegy, separation, grief, loss, deep image

From the Author:

The author has been privileged to encounter and study with poets James Wright, John Logan, W.S. Merwin, John Unterecker, Galway Kinnell and others.

The deeply personal lyrics in Between Wings, written over a period of 30 years, reflect those influences, as well as the author’s reading of poets like Rilke, Plath, and the Deep Image poets.

The shadow of a woman presides over the poems — usually in the form of elegy or lament. Taken together, the poems enact the archetypal myth of separation and return in terms of the speaker’s own history…always seeking a state of transcendence-in-union glimpsed and longed for but always remaining just beyond realization — “where the jewel of absolute darkness shines and shines / and all the masters of the light go blind.”

Your Experience Self Publishing:

Lulu.com was relatively easy to use, even when formatting and downloading the whole project yourself, which is free of charge.

Sample Poem:

Twin Sister
(for Jo, in her 6th month)

There is no language of the natural
heart. What we’ve shared is a silence,
though the blood’s voice, the slow love-
throb, sang to us in our sleep.

It has always been you I sleep
with. In the deep silence
of my lover’s hair, it was your heart I heard;
it was your yellow hair my fingers curled upon.

And so there is something still familiar
about this crossed position, the press
of small hands and knees, the slow
rocking together in this dim light.

That first cradle was the one body we shared.

Our language has no word for this.
And this speaking, this
longing grasping at a form,
is still a being of no substance,
the disembodied voice a slight
disturbance
in the unborn air.

§

And so tonight
I see you across five thousand miles
and your moony fullness
seduces me, finally,
back to that whole world
you carry within yourself–
to this new place simply beyond
words–

where thought and speech are stilled
and the body is
the embrace
of two hearts
beating together
in the warm dark.

______________________________

The Colors of Autumn

Dayspring phantom green in the blue dusk
Now all the mothers are under the ground
and the crows gather in the garden of memory

Amber burnished rue moonrise
and the dark trees
loose their leaves into your whiteness

New wheat copper oriental gold
and the bright leaves radiance you never missed
over your hidden face

Clear lake raindrop illusion blue
and the wild geese out of the north your home
circle above your grave

Blue jewel mother of promises
and the steel sky flat over the earth
and as cold in the blue dusk

Snowfall white over the white stone
and your white wing my mother
And the wild geese searching for summer
settle around your grave in the early night

Additional information can be found at Poetry Slam, Inc.

Title: Boys at Play
Poet: N.D. Austin, Joshua H. Cohen, Artie Moffa, Wing L. Mui
Publisher: Bicycle Comics
Self Published: Yes
Date Published: July 2009
Pages: 50

Categories: Traditional, Light Verse, Humor, Slam

TAGS: Amherst College, Boston Poetry Slam, Cantab Lounge, Comic Verse, Fundraising, Light Verse, Limericks, New Formalism, Sonnets

From the Author:

Boys at Play is a book of poetry. Fun poetry. It’s like recess, but for English majors. Parody, wordplay, comics, limericks, even a couple of show tunes. For a finale, Emperor Nero shows up and sets the place on fire.

Written in the tradition of Ogden Nash, Dorothy Parker, Hilaire Belloc, W.S. Gilbert, and Edward Lear, Boys at Play proves that light verse remains a perfectly respectable career path for words and phrases who shudder at the thought of working in an investment prospectus.

Your Experience Self Publishing:

I did all of the layout and design work myself and shopped around our press-ready PDF files to local print shops. I work as a designer and typesetter for one of the largest publishing companies in the world, so my advice is to work on several hundred college textbooks prior to attempting your own masterpiece. Since that route is somewhat arduous and indirect, here are some more practical suggestions:

1. Find a print shop who is as excited about the project as you are. The print shop is your employee. If they aren’t excited about working for you, find a different print shop. (Also, if one print shop quotes you a price insanely high compared to the other printers, that most likely means that shop doesn’t want your job and is hoping you’ll take the hint.)

2. Don’t be baffled by printer-speak; your job is to write the poems and hand in press-ready files, so ask as many questions as you need to make that happen.

3. Have other goals. We didn’t write our book to get rich, we wrote our book to have fun and raise money for our alma matter. I think having a goal larger than ourselves helped us keep on an even keel.

Sample Poem:

Title: Poems for a Positive Day
Poet: Donna Cavanagh
Publisher: CreateSpace
Self Published: Yes
Date Published: October 3, 2009
Pages:54

Categories: Inspirational/spiritual rhyme

From the Author:

Sometimes a simple lift at the start of the day in the form of a few positive words makes the difference between just going through our daily routine and finding joy in our lives. We all go through trials in life, but a little inspiration can turn our day around. This book was created to help you discover your joy and positive spirit.

Your Experience Self Publishing:

I would recommend CreateSpace to anyone who wants to self publish. Books can be produced at a reasonable price and sold through Amazon.com. One word of warning, other self publishing sites give better documentation on the formatting of the book contents and generation of PDF.

Sample Poem:

“Keeping the Positive Spirit”

What does it take for you
to make it through each day
with a positive spirit and a generous heart
and a burst of laughter along the way

Yes, your day is hectic
and a stressful situation can unfold
It takes one little problem, one snafu
and negativity can take hold

Don’t give into the frustrations
There will always be problems to face
The key is to keep your heart full of joy
and your mind in a positive place

No problems were ever solved
focusing on what cannot be
Solutions are found when we open our minds
and welcome creativity

Title: Pensive Musings: A Collection of Reflective Poetry
Poet: Sanjit Bhattacharjee
Publisher: CreateSpace
Self Published: Yes
Date Published: June 4, 2009
Pages:72

Categories: Sonnets, Blank verse

From the Author:

This collection contains musings on Life, Love, Consciousness, Science, Society, Psychology, Art and Culture, and has flavors of 19th century Romantic-Victorian traditions. All 29 compositions are reflective and focus on logic and reasoning, or actions and reactions, while using metaphors to substantiate content.
Most compositions are original in form, though some works strictly follow time-tested metre.

Prof. Amitava Roy (President, Shakespeare society of Eastern India) from Rabindra Bharati University writes…
“Sanjit Bhattacharjee’s Sonnets (on Time, Death, Lonely Fears, Intoxication and others) echo and recall Keats and Shakespeare, and try to strictly adhere to the formal qualities and rhyme schemes of the 14 line lyric.

Your Experience Self Publishing:

CreateSpace was easy to use and the end to end publishing process took a couple of months. They have paid programs to help the author throughout the cycles of proof reading, cover design and promotion, but I went with the basic service, uploaded my PDF and voila!

Sample Poem:

The Leveler

The day has pass’d – a long night begun;
He had slipped silently into dark realms,
And it seems like ages, when light shone
On my face and the earth bask’d in glory.

The sun bore a fiery look in the light, a look
I’d never seen before, but my wildest dreams
Ever a witness to the epigram of life, had seen it -
Scorch the place and life hang in balance!
The dream was back – a nightmarish arising.
Dust and gravel stone, sunbathed in warmth,
Like a messiah of doomsday, scorching cakes
Of muddy paths breaking down in heat.

When I lived my life and was of free thought,
The sun appeared and I could not pass
My desires to the dark, the light over my head,
A beacon of guidance! Was in the known
And I happily loved it seed, like a fresh spring
That springs fro’ a crack’d precipice. Grow
Like the slit, wide in summer, when
Ice melts and torrents of water gush, leaving part of
The majestic broken in pebbles! Similar springs
Bubbled in me, only to find cracks that deluge!
And so mistakes flower’d like blooms in spring!
Only the sun was awake and in guidance.

Day reasons in the sun and the night – the moon.
A pair of opposites, dual existence!
But all powers must bereave of the powerful
For the meek to take her place on the throne
And so darkness slips in, unheard and quiet.

The day had grown till day met the night,
And in its sleepy languor the sun came down,
Relieved from its daily charge of amusing itself.
I saw the blood in the horizon, it’s passing away -
Birth in death regain’d! The same sun, same day
Yet time somehow had given way. So the sun
Must yield to the immortalizer, we all must do one day;
Must the knowledge of truth, seep’d in fantasy
Herald greater power to which I succumb – the
Twisted chronicles of a belittled life? Unknown facts
The world should know, pass away to the unknown.

The moon is awake, the sun in slumber;
A sleeping giant, who knows not if he’ll wake
With the world tomorrow and the daybreak!

When I raise my eyes to the crescent, my mind
Not in caves, mountains and vales unknown,
Nor magical mathematics to gauge their depth
And neither contemplates on chemical grains
But beauty all absorbing fills me within, and I
Can look at the falcate and love the gentleness.
One, that thoughts had ceased to find
When the sun had me seized, burning my brow!

There’s no logic in death, and splendour sans.
No grand departure, nor chants; reason escapes
Into the void, in the wake of the endless cave!
Stars illuminate, with a single minded purpose
The vastness of the heavens, awe inspiring.
And in the barren universe, man finds solitude.
Birth in death regain’d! Weathered face
And hollow cheeks, trembled walk with a stick.
Facing the earth with all that has been
And years of gathered knowledge, weathered within.
So the unknown comes closer and apprehension
Gathers in revolt and the truth sublime
Paces the ground in nervous wait!
The moon and the stars, lovely creatures,
And man in a dilemma faces them all.

Venus in the mid; twinkles hover incandescent
In the murky air, glimpses of flutter
Reminds of life, nervous as the end is near!

As dusk had entered this glade, life murmured
In silent respect for the unknown to come
And as darkness enveloped, a strange silence
Dawned on the planet as a blade of grass withered!
Awaiting the dawn, in profound respect
For all that was in surround.

Title: Coming Home to My Heart
Poet: Donna Solitario
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Self Published: Yes
Date Published: June 30 2009
Pages: 148

Categories: Rhyme, Prose, Spiritual, Inspirational

Websites: Embrace the Light
Interviews and shows: Article

Title: Embrace the Light
Poet: Donna Solitario
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Self Published: Yes
Date Published: Dec. 3 2007
Pages: 116

Categories: Rhyme, Prose, Spiritual, Inspirational

From the Author:

They are both in verse and prose, rhyme, and easy to read. My second book is very deep including an autobiography of growing up in an abusive, subtance abuse, childhood. It also includes Spirituality, forgiveness, motivation, inspirations for the rest of the book. Check out my reviews on amazon and Barnes&Noble

• All readers are welcome to comment on books.

Poet: Patrick Gillespie
Publisher: William L. Bauhan, Publisher
Self Published: Yes
Date Published: 2000
Pages: 77

Categories: Free Verse, Rhyme, Meter, Sonnets, Narrative Verse, Blank Verse, Nonce, Spiritual/Religious

From the Author:

I created this website (Self Published Poets), in the hope that it would become a centralized catalog for readers seeking self-published poets. To read some of my own poetry, come visit my website Poemshape, where you find all the poems from Opening Book, articles about great poetry and poets, opinion pieces, the Vermont Poetry Newsletter and Calendar, and my children’s fables and stories.

Self-publishing ones writing is to have faith in oneself. There’s nothing more important or valuable than to pursue ones dreams. And self-publishing has never been easier. Even from the time that I self-published Opening Book, the options and opportunities (along with risks) have exploded. There is no reason why every poet shouldn’t consider publishing their own work. Own your work. And be responsible for your own failure or your own success.

Sample Poem