Books published by Clare Songbirds Publishing House

The Brave was compiled as a fundraiser to support the work of Semper K9.  Semper K9 utilizes rescue dogs to provide service animals for wounded veterans.  Written by veterans and their family members, The Brave looks at all aspects of military life, humanizing the people and families behind the uniforms.

For Kate is a poignant exploration of love, loss, and love rediscovered through the unique relationships between humans and animals.  There is more here than ''animal'' poetry.  This in a homage to the raw emotions of humanity intertwined with the power of hope.  This IS a must have in the collection of every cat lover who understands the gentle curl and purr of both poetry and a loyal cat.  The poems are mixed with lines of hilarity even in the face of loss and love regained. 

Peggy Seely's poetry demands our attention, never more so than in her powerful book, Disturbing the Dust, where she takes us on a journey of a life fully lived. Her deep sense of caring is displayed in Parkland; she smells the "spilled blood" of gunned-down students, rendering assurance that she will "stand with students who will stand free..." In her poem, "There Came a Day," she looks at the sexism that has been part of the American culture for far too long, defining women as less than they are. "Enough, enough" Peggy says in a voice dripping with outrage at the promise of workplace advancement for special favors. Anger in some poems, yes; also rebellion, finally, catharsis. If poetry were a taxi, I'd ride with Peggy Seely every time. ~Leonard Greco, journalist & author

Pratt''s Forms and Shades is an eloquent collection of poetry filled with vignettes of life. From the bucolic beauty "September''s Last Afternoon" to the visceral pain of "According to a Spokesman" Pratt tells the story of people in their various forms and shades.

Virginia Aronson''s Itako, pay tribute the Japanese blind women trained to communicate with the spirits of the dead, the Itako. Aronson''s poetry chonicles the lives, hardships, and cultural value of the Itako with poignant beauty. 

In Body of Water Mr. Santosuosso presents a complex series of poems in which a line from one poem often informs the reading of a subsequent one. calling on images from Greek mythology to present day America he moves the book forward: a millwheel, propelled by water as both image and metaphor. In these poems water exists as vapor, fog, and ice; as rivers, lakes, and oceans; as water currents within water, and even as lava, the fluid core of earth itself ... the one that will remain with me longest, is "Body of Water" in which the narrator becomes one with Walden pond as with a mentor or kindred spirit ... With a precise diction devoid of excess Mr. Santosuosso braids these various waters into poems you will come back to again and again.      -Ann Howells, Editor, Illya''s Honey

Eating the Sun grows lushly from a May-December love affair between a twenty-something patient and her surgeon and blossoms sensuously into a marriage of shared passions. In this cross-genre collection, Ikins cultivates multiple gardens and harvests delicate, yearning verse, recipes for fruits and vegetables sun-coaxed from the earth, and luminous stories of her star-crossed union with Phillip, thirty years her senior and the love of her life. We fall head over heels for the couple, the homes in which they nest, the patches of soil they till, and the meals they prepare, following their relationship throughout their seasons of love. Embracing both joy and heartache, despair and delight, Eating the Sun is ripe and intoxicating. ~Linda Lowen, Contributor, The Writer Magazine and book reviewer for a leading trade publication

Beth Gordon''s poetry is amassed here as a provocative narrative. The language is penetrating and captures stark depths of feelings in time of loss and despair. The poems are stories told with raw honesty as well as intensity. Hers is a clever reflective told from a rare but unenviable perspective. Pain and loneliness are revealed through a powerful lens that brings you to the locales portrayed, while forcing you to fell what the author felt. She tell a tale of a woman, strong but sensitive to the ways of our world. This collection is laced with sentiment while eschewing sentimentality and showcasing the artistry of a wandering spirit. ~ Jeffrey-Paul Horn, author of Notes of a Dread-headed Drifter

Acclaimed Welsh Poet Christopher Hopkins' second collection.  This collection is a reflection and myriad colour in which poetry observes all with a delicate touch.  Second Edition 38 pages.  ISBN 978-1-947653-67-2