Life Poetry

This audiobook is about a passion for writing. The poems contained herein are a selection of many I have written. They are a variety of many places of the mind and in our times. Throughout the years, I have been in contact with some special people and some special places. I have been offered a rare opportunity to be a part of recording things as I saw them. It is great fun to rearrange words to give a different meaning to what we thought we already knew. I will continue to write poems for those who enjoy reading them, including myself.

Book 3 introduces you to friends and acquaintances and the story poems I've written for them for special events in their lives. I've changed the names of all the recipients, but not the actual poems I wrote for them.

My love for travel has led me to a lot of different places leading to interaction with a wide array of people. Some of them being very special, I wanted to remember those encounters. Hence I started portraying them through my poems.

A Life in Rhyme - My Family is the second book in a collection of rhyming story poems I've written over a period of years. None of them were initially written for book publication, but I have received such encouragement from friends and family about them, I've decided to compile the verses into four different titles. Book 2 introduces you to my family and the story poems I've written for them on their special birthdays and anniversaries.

Tired of life in a noisy city, a group of magicians gathers together and POOF!—they create their very own town. Being rather self-centered, they elect themselves to various positions in the town. When the voting is over, every magician has been elected to office; everyone, that is, except young Abracadabra Bartholomew Brown. Why not Bartholomew? Because he stutters, which causes some people to tease him and think less of him.

Eighteen kids, one year of poems, one school set to close. Two yellow bulldozers crouched outside, ready to eat the building in one greedy gulp. But look out, bulldozers. Ms. Hill's fifth-grade class has plans for you. They're going to speak up and work together to save their school.

In his award-winning memoir Free Lunch, Rex Ogle’s abuela features as a source of love and support. In this companion-in-verse, Rex captures and celebrates the powerful presence a woman he could always count on—to give him warm hugs and ear kisses, to teach him precious words in Spanish, to bring him to the library where he could take out as many books as he wanted, and to offer safety when darkness closed in.

Ever felt like a grump? In this delightful musical audiobook. The House That Jack Built, poor old Jack starts out grim and grumbly. But even Jack can't resist warming up with the help of his singing and dancing barnyard friends right out of your favorite nursery rhymes. A tale - or tail? - of love, life, and forgiveness promises fun-filled family entertainment with bluegrass music and memorable moments.

Surround Yourself is a gentle and uplifting story that shows children happiness is not something they have to wait for but something they can choose every day. Award-winning author Mona Liza Santos invites young listeners to slow down, notice the beauty around them, and find joy in life’s simplest moments. Through soft rhymes, children learn how small choices such as the friends they keep, the kindness they share, and the moments they treasure can fill their world with light.

Composed around 1294 in Italian, the Vita Nuova tells the story of Dante's encounters with and love for Beatrice, culminating in her early death and its effect upon him. Utilizing and developing the conventions of courtly love, in a mixture of prose and verse, Dante deepens the emotional content of the genre, while pointing the way towards the intellectual and spiritual journey of the Divine Comedy.

Life experiences are unique and inestimable. And exactly those values I aimed to capture in my poems. Life could be an adventure, a dream, an illusion, or endless love. Travel in Time is not only a collection of poems, it is for you as a listener an experience into a new world, into the world of romantic imagery.

Take a journey to a simpler time with poems that bring out the BEST in you.

Rosemary Sansum, author of Garden of Dreams, Pathways to Paradise, Forever Loved and most recently, When Dreams Whisper, breaks fresh ground in this new collection of verse. Here, Rosemary exhibits an ability to scare as well as touch, to reflect upon life's good times and bad, and still find time for some good old-fashioned flights of fancy.

In this story the child is invited on a journey where the narrator must find courage to take on a new challenge. The Animal Kingdom characters of Bravery and Bolder are called in to assist and model strength for the child. "The Away Cast” plays on the meanings of the word "cast." It is used as term for the cast of a play and also as a to examine the idea of the fear related to being "cast out." The story unfolds with the narrator auditioning for a play even though it creates some anxiety and discomfort.

This is an account of a life lived online. Swiping for approval. Scrolling for gratification. Searching for connection. From the glow of a screen in the middle of the night, to the harsh glare of the hospital waiting room, Validate Me, is a raw and honest look at the highs and the lows of a digital life.

When little Zanna's oldest brother died just before Christmas, she was left with the gift she had made for him - a picture that only he would have understood. Every Christmas, Zanna's gift is brought out and displayed as a way of including their lost brother in the celebration. This is the story of the life of that family, and of the many gifts they gave each other that could only be understood with love.

Isabella Castaspella, the happy little witch known as Izzy, just flew into town...and she’s here to cast a happy little spell on you! Isabella Castaspella tells the story of Izzy’s struggles with Lavinia LaMeanie, a nasty witch who is always trying to make life miserable for Izzy and her friends. Join Izzy and her friends as they use the magic of kindness, imagination, and love in their battle against the mean bully, Lavinia LaMeanie.

"Moving, amusing, and thought-provoking" are regular comments–I give everything when performing Beyond Poetry, and it is not unusual for me to receive spontaneous hugs from audience members after the performance!

Meet the married Dads, the divorced Dads, the widowed Dads and the gay Dads; the gamblers, the firemen, the bankers, the nurses, the soldiers and the milkmen. They’re trying to guide their sons through the foothills of childhood into the bewildering uplands of adulthood. But it’s hard to know if they’re doing it right. Or what their sons’ mothers think... Wise and funny, touching and true, What We’re Teaching Our Sons is for anyone who has ever wondered how to be a grown-up.

Anke’s father is abusive. But not to her. He attacks her brother and sister, but she’s just an invisible witness in a house of horrors, on the brink of disappearing altogether. Until she makes the volleyball team at school. At first just being exhausted after practice feels good, but as Anke becomes part of the team, her confidence builds. When she learns to yell “Mine!” to call a ball, she finds a voice she didn’t know existed. For the first time, Anke is seen and heard.