"This is where you go when you are gone", Tim Gager, Cervena Barva press, $7

Simple, yet explosive, this features much of Tim Gager's published poems from 2007.

These Poems are not Pink Fluffy Clouds, Tim Gager, Propaganda Press, $5.

This little square package of over thirty poems packs an emotional punch.

The Man in the Booth in the Midtown Tunnel by Doug Holder Cervena Barva Press http://cervenabarvapress.com $13

A collection of poetry by the arts/editor of The Somerville News. It was a pick of the month in The Small Press Review

Swimming Back Taylor Altman sunnyoutside $10

Set against the changing seasons in suburban America, the poems of Swimming Back chronicle a young woman's struggle to make sense of her world after the early loss of her father. These poems, with their incredible range of human emotion, effectively transform grief into art.

Eden Waters HOME Anthology, edited by Anne Brudevold, and published by Eden Waters Press $16.50

Diverse takes on the theme of HOME by over three dozen poets and prose talents. Many well-known names from the Boston small press arena will be recognized, and new ones from around the country and abroad will be found. Copiously illustrated, the book is a delight to peruse. Available at local bookstores and online.

The Perfect Insult for Every Occasion: Lady Snark's Guide to Common Discourtesy

Adams Media $9.95

With a cigarette in one hand and a martini in the other, fictional socialite Lady Arabella Snark (aka linguist A. C. Kemp) shows you how to use malicious language and stinging zingers to your advantage.

Way Opens: A Spiritual Journey by Patricia Wild. Published by Warwick House Publishers, Lynchburg, VA, 2008 $15.

Eight years ago, Patricia Wild asked, "What happened to the African Americans who desegregated my high school in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1962?" That question became a quest; Way Opens tracks her journey.

AWAKENINGS by Richard Wilhelm Ibbetson Street Press; $14.00

This collection of poems cycles through the seasons of the year as both the poet and the reader awaken to the magic of nature, art and the life cycle.

North Star

step

after step,

I walk down,

the strips

of cement.

through the suburbic city.

drivers

whiz by.

the music trails

away, my worn

feet pressing

on into the

imprints of exhaust.

the sun has been replaced

by an iridescent glow.

the stars have no home here.

moving towards them

I discover the vastness of the city.

the insignificance of my steps.

a life reduced to a duffle bag

a pair of shoes.

I've found,

that the city

will no longer sing for me

her womb has dried,

I walk in the afterbirth,yet

only my shadow

leaves a trace.

–Miguel Miro