The Poet's Books

Songs & Sketches

Wilson’s seventh collection of poetry takes a new direction. Songs & Sketches is about storytelling through verse. Wilson favors long, descriptive poems which meld themes of family, faith, and history. This new collection promises moments of beauty and surprise. Memories of childhood games of hopscotch, a story of inseparable sisters, a tale of a woman on an auction block two centuries ago, quiet moments of prayer for an artist before she brings a blank canvas to life, and so many other stories are woven together with heart and respect. Each new poem in Songs & Sketches is its own movement, much like that of an orchestral piece, which can stand alone. Each poem brings new and rich purpose and meaning to its audience. Enjoy this journey, as Wilson sings and sketches memorable images through sound and verse that will linger long after you have put this book down.

Songs & Sketches is now available for sale on Amazon.


The Words That Breathe

The Words That Breathe, Wilson’s sixth book of poetry, is richly varied in its presentation of a new year of life for this author. In this book, she highlights her travels and new love that she has stumbled upon along the way. The book is dedicated to her twin nieces who were a joyful inspiration for this book. In the chapter “The Circumference of Family,” Wilson speaks of new hope that only newborns can inspire—as “children roam on the pulse of tomorrow…” Wilson proves sensitive and observant of people and her surroundings in poems in the chapter called, “Profiles.” Here, she carefully uses words to craft portraits of people she has encountered on travel.  Let it be said that The Words That Breathe is a labor of love. It is an ardent reflection of the profound feeling and respect she has for family and community. Revel in its wonderment.

The Words That Breathe is now available for sale on Amazon.

Love Emphatically

Love Emphatically is an ode to grandparents, mothers, brothers, newborns, friends and lovers January Nicole Wilson has known during her lifetime.  The book comes as a reminder that love, in all its shades, is like a deep breath to the soul. With chapters like “Morning Toast,” “Shake Loose My Skin,” and “Our Rhapsody,” this book is a refreshing reflection on the loves of Wilson’s life. If you are like her, you are still learning the ropes. Love is nothing new but something strange and beautiful--something everyone needs to know and to foster. Love Emphatically, the author’s fifth book of poetry, is a formidable example of her facility with language and her sensitivity to this subject matter.

Love Emphatically is now available for sale on Amazon.

A Poet Speaks of Empire

In A Poet Speaks of Empire, January Nicole Wilson’s fourth book of poetry, the author looks at today’s Africa on the precipice of great change and tumult. Wilson captures something of the zeitgeist of this new era in Africa. In this book, distinct African countries inspire poems concerning change, growth, wonder and even love. She reveals the continent’s great history, including the ancient empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhay, and imagines a future begging for rebirth. As she astutely points out, the rise and fall of empire are only a matter of history. Her studies of political science and African literature, as well as, encounters while living in Ghana have inspired this thought-provoking collection of poetry.

Click here to be linked to blog posts, reviews, videos, excerpts and more concerning this book.

A Poet Speaks of Empire is now available for sale on Amazon.

The Lily & The Aster

January Nicole Wilson has again written a thoughtful and provocative collection of poetry with The Lily & The Aster, her third book. In this book, Wilson uses a Japanese form of poetry, the haiku, to communicate her message. Each haiku is a meditation on the love, music and politics that fill her daily life. To borrow the title from her second chapter, time and again her poetry is "a confession of joy." She uses haiku to introduce three travel essays, included in The Lily & The Aster. Each essay tells an absorbing story of adventure in three different regions of the world, spanning Europe & Africa.

Click here to be linked to the blog posts, interviews, excerpts and more concerning this book.

The Lily & The Aster is now available for sale on Amazon.

A Dawn Run Hot with Morning

Filled with lucid and evocative revelations about living and loving, A Dawn Run Hot with Morning is proof positive that life begins at the age of 30. This book of poetry takes the reader on a journey, a quest for answers about love and about self. Faced with wrenching loss, the poetry’s narrator emerges, a phoenix from the flames, conscious of her strength and wiser as a result of the experience. At 30, Wilson celebrates life, family, friends and resilience in this thought-provoking work.

See also blog posts entitled, The Making of A Dawn Run Hot with Morning, A Look Inside A Dawn Run Hot with Morning and Another Look Inside A Dawn Run Hot with Morning (The Poetry I , II & III)


A Dawn Run Hot with Morning is now available for sale on Amazon.

Contemplating Eve: The Collected Works

Contemplating Eve: The Collected Works celebrates more than ten years of writing & artwork and comprises a complete collection of January Nicole Wilson's work to date. In Contemplating Eve, she ruminates on just what it means to be a contemporary woman. The cover design is one example of the visual musings included in Contemplating Eve. The poetry inside concerns love and love lost; travel and home; nature and identity. Wilson takes a penetrating look at the world that surrounds her in this evocative work.

Click here to be linked to the blog post concerning this book.

Contemplating Eve is now available for sale on Amazon and at Gladstone Publishing.