Happy Pub Day!

We at Greenleaf Book Group would like to take a moment to congratulate our authors who have books coming out this May.

Travels with Gannon and Wyatt: Botswana by Patti Wheeler and Keith Hemstreet

Change Intelligence: Use the Power of CQ to Lead Change That Sticks by Barbara A. Trautlein, Ph.D.

My Greek Drama: Life, Love, and One Woman’s Olympic Effort to Bring Glory to Her Country by Gianna Angelopoulos

The Behavior Breakthrough: Leading Your Organization to a New Competitive Advantage by Steve Jacobs and Colleagues

Unpredictable Webs by Darlene Quinn

Widow Walk by Gerard LaSalle

Never In Your Wildest Dreams: A Transformational Story to Tap Into Your Hidden Gifts to Create a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Prosperity by Natalie Ledwell

Scrap by Emory Sharplin

Bucket List Bars: Historic Saloons, Pubs, and Dives of America by Clint Lanier

You Should Only Have to Get Rich Once: For Entrepreneurs—How to Avoid Toxic Financial Advice and Focus on What Really Matters by Russell E. Holcombe

HeadTrash: Cleaning Out the Junk that Stands Between You and Success by Tish Squillaro and Timothy I. Thomas

America’s Soul in the Balance 2^nd ed. By Gregory J. Wallance

 Well done! All your hard work and dedication has paid off, and we’re honored to be partners in your latest and greatest work.

Not shown in photo: Scrap by Emory Sharplin, You Should Only Have to Get Rich Once: For Entrepreneurs - How to Avoid Toxic Financial Advice and Focus on What Really Matters by Russell E. Holcombe and America's Soul in the Balance 2nd Edition by Gregory J. Wallance

National Poetry Month is a relatively recent invention. It was initiated in 1996 and has been celebrated in America every April since. Unlike most other national month-long holidays, there are few official celebrations—in American at least, Canada and the UK put on festivals—but it is a popular time to publish poetry books and collections.

Since the central purpose of National Poetry Month is to promote poetry, we at Greenleaf would like to share some of our favorite poems with you.

Fair warning: Many of the poems we picked are quite long, so I’m including excerpts here with a link to the full poem in case you can’t get enough.

Rachel Brandenburg suggests “Sonnet XVII” by Pablo Neruda:

I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,

or arrow of carnations that propogate fire:

I love you as one loves certain obscure things,

secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

(Read the rest here)

Jordan Heath suggests “The Hollow Men” by T. S. Elliot:

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.           

(Read the rest here)

Kristine Peyre-Ferry suggests “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” by Emily Dickinson:

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you – Nobody – too?

Then there's a pair of us!

                (Read the rest here)

Sarah Ribar took it a step further by recommending everything Emily Dickinson has ever written which, sadly, is outside my word count. But a fair suggestion: she is famous for a reason.

Jessica Marpe suggests “Looking at Each Other” by Muriel Rukeyser: 

Yes, we were looking at each other
Yes, we knew each other very well

(read the rest here)

Jessica first read “Looking at Each Other” in FlavoreWire’s Valentine’s Day collection: 14 Great Poets on Their Favorite Love Poems, all of which are quite good if you’re in need of something sweet to write inside a card or to tell a cute person you know. 

Jessie Goff suggests Edgar Allan Poe. Since she recommends you read everything by him, and I’m suspicious you’ve already read “The Raven,” here I will include an excerpt from “Sonnet—To Science” because it has such an intriguing name:

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!

               Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.

Why preyest thou thus upon the poet’s heart

(Read the rest here)

Abby Kitten loves “Crush” by Richard Siken.

Tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us.

These, our bodies, possessed by light.

Tell me we’ll never get used to it.

(Read the rest here)

Steven Elizalde suggests “Forgotten Language” by Shel Silverstein:

Once I spoke the language of the flowers,

Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,

Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings

                (Read the rest here)

 Steven also recommends “My True Love Hath My Heart, And I Have His” by Sir Philip Sidney:

                By just exchange, one for the other giv’n

                I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss;

                There never was a better bargain driv’n

                (Read the rest here)

I have two favorites as well, so first I will share an excerpt from Postcards by Margaret Atwood, who is not only a moving poet, but an amazing novelist as well:

               Time comes in waves here, a sickness, one

               day after the other rolling on

               (Read the rest here)

My final suggestion is “The Drover’s Wife” by Barbara Jefferis:

               We used to laugh over something or nothing, it didn’t matter,

               Just laughing because we felt good,

               Because our skins liked each other, and our hair and teeth.

               Laughter doesn’t last forever anymore than hair or teeth.

Happy Poetry Month!