Poetry to share your love - Michael Schmidt

Love is wondrous, universal, and powerful! It can be direct and ecstatic, or shy and hidden; it can also be erotic, passionate and earthy or romantic, dreamy, and mystical. Lovers may be transfixed by desire or brimming over with mutual joy. No wonder, then, that love has been an irresistible subject of poetry for thousands of years - from the Roman poet Catullus to the newest young poet writing at this moment. It's said that "all the world loves a lover" and indeed, there is a magnetic force that draws us into the magic circle of love. That's why everyone who ever has loved, is in love, has lost love, and hopes for love will be thrilled by this sublime collection. Here you'll find 100 poems that celebrate love in all its guises through the astonishing alchemy of poetry. They have been chosen with care and thought from the abundant resources of American and international writing. Voices of the past such as Catullus, Queen Elizabeth 1; Sir Philip Sydney; Shakespeare; Emily Dickinson, and Wallace Stevens stand alongside the newer voices of Robert Bly, Louise Gluck, W.S.;Merwin, Pablo Neruda, Galway Kinnell, Jane Kenyon, Adreinne Rich, Rita Dove, Billy Collins, Dorianne Laux, James Wright, and others. Though they speak with different voices, the poets find their own, miraculous words that reveal love in all its forms and, in the revelation, share it.