Coming in November (Print Version Not Available for Pre-Order)
One year. One ache. One word.
The Book of Joy explores joy in every season—times when joy comes easily and times when it seems very far. Discover these 100 poems for your heart.
Proof Copy Unboxing!
From the Collection
3
Contingencies
Stand in
the sun
while
sipping
lemon balm
tea.
Stand in
the grass,
barefoot,
after the
rain.
Write poems
about
joy.
— L.L. Barkat
About the Poet
L.L. Barkat is also the author of Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing (twice named a Best Book of 2011); Beyond the Glass: Poems; and the collection Love, Etc. Her poems have appeared at Every Day Poems, Best American Poetry, VQR, NPR, My French Life, and the BBC. She can be found at llbarkat.com
Table of Contents
1 After the Rain
2 Turning In
3 Contingencies
4 Laundry
5 Above
6 Avocado
7 Wineberries
8 Evening in June
9 [tea by the window]
10 [the lightest pink]
11 Excursion
12 Uncontainable
13 Unexpected Joy
14 Joy on the Way
15 Joy Ride
16 Centered—
17 Before Supper
18 Japanese Maple
19 July’s Joy
20 Place Setting: The Old Herb Garden
21 Sunday’s Buddha’s Blend
22 On the Back Porch Watching the Sun Dapple Violets and English Ivy
23 Early Morning
24 Little Lanterns
25 Pictured
26 Round of Joy
27 Hudson Joy
28 Festive
29 Last Hour
30 Tiny One by the Post and Beam Fence
31 At the Ferry Dock, Braids Flying
32 Purple Oxalis
33 Passerby
34 Tuesday: 4:44 a.m.
35 Outing
36 A Mama Cardinal Contemplates the Hemlocks
37 Sanctuary
38 A Few Days After He Turns 93
39 Old-Fashioned Girl
40 On the Side Porch Before Sunset
41 Assignment
42 Exclamation
43 September Evening Commute
44 Buddha’s Blend on the Back Porch
45 Scent
46 Cala Lilies
47 After an Impromptu Trip to H Mart
48 Autumn Sunflowers
49 Moon Walk
50 Romance for Sale
51 After 11 p.m.
52 Since Your Departure
53 Weeks Hence
54 On Borrowing Your Kona Until the Leasing Company Comes to Retrieve It
55 Going Through Your Craft Supplies to Prepare for Selling Your Home
56 Poetry Confession
57 Thanksgiving
58 Tree Shopping with My Girls
59 Christmas on the Way
60 New Years
61 January, Early
62 January, the Weekend After
63 Renee
64 Periwinkle Twilight
65 Alex
66 New Writing Joy
67 Afternoon Walk
68 February Sunset
69 Joy on a Visit to the Compost Pile
70 Ode to a Late Walk in February
71 Stealth
72 When the World
73 Sill
74 Transformed
75 Spring Joy
76 Monday Commute
77 Tech Stack of Joy Suspended in a Blue Sunset with Peach on the Side
78 Speaking to My Darling While the Troll Sits on the Bridge
79 Fair Trade While Sitting in the Antique Stickley Rocker
80 Vocabulary
81 Mother’s Day
82 Sometimes Life Is Like an Acrostic Poem
83 On Route 9A at 2:15 in the Afternoon
84 In Late May on Prospect Avenue
85 At the Cusp of June
86 Sitting with Sorrow on a Sunday Afternoon
87 After the Storm
88 Rumi, 5:30 a.m.
89 Term
90 Unintended
91 Generalization
92 Missing: No Cat, Two Lost Poems
93 Achievement
94 Upon the Conclusion of Your 26th Year. Welcome, 27!
95 Day One
96 Night Pictures on the Hudson
97 Small Thing
98 How to Finish a Book of Joy
99 To My Firstborn: A Memory
100 Joie
