Orem Library

In THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, Elizabeth Alexander finds herself at an existential crossroads after the sudden death of her husband. Channeling her poetic sensibilities into a rich, lucid prose, Alexander presents us with the heartrending story of a soul mate found and lost. As she reflects on the beauty of her married life, the trauma resulting from her husband's death, and the solace found in caring for her two sons. Alexander universalizes a very personal...

"An alternatingly funny and poignant memoir from "our finest living example of [the American civic poet]" (New York Times). In late-1940s Long Branch, an historic but run-down Jersey Shore resort town, in a neighborhood of Italian, Black, and Jewish families, Robert Pinsky began his unlikely journey to becoming a poet. Descended from a bootlegger grandfather, an athletic father, and a rebellious tomboy mother, Pinsky was an unruly but articulate high-school...

A hilarious and moving memoir about a woman who returns home to her close-knit Mennonite family after a personal crisis. When her husband left her for another man, and that same week a car accident left her with serious injuries, Janzen returned to her Mennonite community, which welcomed her with open arms and generous advice.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet recounts his difficult early years suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia when he was put in the "dummy class" at school and didn't learn to read until age eleven but went on to achieve success as a writer.

Walt Whitman was a printer, journalist, editor, and schoolteacher. But today, he's recognized as one of America's founding poets, a man who changed American literature forever. Throughout his life, Walt journeyed everywhere, from New York to New Orleans, Washington D.C. to Denver, taking in all that America had to offer.