The Lily & The Aster Available for FREE until Friday, Sept. 21

In the spirit of receiving high praise for my poetry recently, The Lily & The Aster is now available for FREE to download to your PC, Kindle or Ipad! This special promotion is only available from today, Monday, September 17 until Friday, September 21, so take advantage of this special offer while you still can! Visit the following site and follow the prompts on the right side of the page for download. Enjoy!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lily-Aster-ebook/dp/B007W74W9O/ref=tmm_kin_title_0

Awards Ceremony for the 34th Annual Trumbull Arts Festival

This morning I was honored with an award for my poetry at the 34th Annual Trumbull Arts Festival. As a part of the ceremony, the speaker read the winning poem aloud and presented my representative with an award. I could not make the ceremony, so I had my family accept the award and record the event. Please enjoy this brief excerpt from the ceremony! — at Trumbull Town Hall.

Last Chance to Get Your Copy of "The Lily & The Aster" at Rainy Faye Bookstore

Rainy Faye Bookstore, the only independent bookstore in downtown Bridgeport, CT, is closing its doors later this fall. If you can, make a call today to order your copy of "The Lily & The Aster". If you do so soon, you'll get a special discount! Support local business.

Winner of Poetry Prize at the 34th Annual Trumbull Arts Festival

On September 16, 2012 I will be honored for poems submitted for the 34th Annual Trumbull Arts Festival. I will be honored among other winners of the literary contest at the Trumbull Town Hall Green in Trumbull, CT at the aforementioned date. The poems submitted for the event will likely appear in my fourth book of poetry, now in production. For details about the event, see the link below:

http://www.jaminmark.com/eventinfo/events/30270.html

Here are the three winning poems from the contest:

AWAKE

She was up before he would awake.

And he awoke and cleared the blur

From his eyes.

He saw her as if for the first time.

While her beauty was apparent,

Seared in his memory were last

Night’s tears – his own –

For the certainty of a delicate

Thing  broken.

Like the soundless flutter

Of a sparrow’s wings, he

Cried.

For shadows of yesterday’s

Shared intimacy, he cried.

And she failed to acknowledge

Her part.

He mourned her absence

Long before they parted ways.

HAUNTED

I am haunted by his earnest efforts

For he knows me. I am not just

A vague sketch lining the outskirts

Of his consciousness, but rather

A course of being he knows by heart.

For he reveals those things about me

I was not aware of until they came

Out of his mouth.

He spoke about my beauty, my eloquence,

My uniqueness and my being whole.

His words complete the puzzle that

Erode my need. He holds up the mirror.

He is not a god-fearing or god-filled man,

But rather like one.  And strong.

DELUSION’S KISS

Hope squanderer

Bloom crusher

Dream’s abscess

Guru

Yesterday’s news

Deal breaker

Trouble maker

Game changer

Stirring of pots

Goal dasher

My downfall

The only contender

Obstacle

Challenger

Weakness

Makes me whole

Press Release - The Lily & The Aster Soon to be Available at Rainy Faye Bookstore

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Announcing the Release of The Lily & The Aster at Rainy Faye Bookstore

BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut (June 2, 2012) - Rainy Faye Bookstore will host the release of The Lily & The Aster, a third book of poetry for January Nicole Wilson beginning June 4, 2012.

In recent months, Rainy Faye has launched the books of numerous local authors. This book release will be a third for author, January Nicole Wilson. She attended Fairfield’s Stratfield School, Fairfield Woods Middle School and Fairfield (Warde) High School and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Literatures and Cultures in English from Brown University and a master’s degree in International Economics and Development from Johns Hopkins University.

Her new book, The Lily & The Aster, is a book of haiku poetry and travel essays. Coursework completed at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) played importantly into the development of The Lily & The Aster, which was published in early May 2012.

Wilson has again written a thoughtful and provocative collection of poetry with The Lily & The Aster. 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, including Romania, Spain and Ghana.

If you would like to discover a truly remarkable little independent bookstore still doing business in Bridgeport’s burgeoning downtown area, now something of an enclave for emerging artists, please visit Rainy Faye Bookstore to pick up a copy of this precious volume.

Rainy Faye Bookstore opened its doors at 1042 Broad Street (Entrance on John Street) in Bridgeport, CT in 2003. The store welcomes a wide range of clientele and appeals to readers of varied tastes. It was considered “Best Independent Bookstore” for four consecutive years by the Fairfield County Reader. Contact the store at (203) 336-6911 for more information about this and other new releases.

Building Fierce Loyalty & the World according to Sarah Robinson

I recently stumbled upon a free eBook, written and compiled by Sarah Robinson, who is an authority on building loyalty around a business. This is among the clearest and most provocative works compiled on the new world of social media that I've read in ages. It's compact and gets straight to the point in just 46 pages. Robinson establishes her authority through the voices of several experts (guest bloggers and leaders in their fields) on the topic of brand loyalty. According to her and her guests, a community-driven ("social pull") approach (rather than the old "push" model) can be most effective in marketing, in observing and meeting customer needs. True engagement with a community of customers leads to the collaborative effort of defining a brand. And, without further ado, I give you the eBook...  

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4WiqUdRMR7hOGVlWnpBUjFUU3lBbXUwZkJHMzl6UQ/edit?pli=1

The Lily, The Aster and more...

Read The Lily & The Aster but eager to learn more about what else I was reading as I wrote the book? Click here to sample the haiku of Matsuo Basho, Richard Wright (that's right, the author of Native Son), Sonia Sanchez and others for nodes of inspiration...  Want to read unedited excerpts from my travel essays from Romania, Ghana and Spain? Click here to be directed to the FREE promotional blog ...

Excited about the new book and would like to write a customer review for Amazon? Simply log on to Amazon, look under the title The Lily & The Aster, click on "customer review" at the top of the page and, finally, click on "create your own review"! 

Still haven't read the book but would like to get your hands on the eBook or the paperback? Click here or send me an email (at thelilyandtheaster@gmail.com) with the number of copies you would like to order.

JOIN THE PARTY! Just imagine, for less than the price of dinner and a movie you can own the paperback - 180 pages with 150 haiku, 20 short poems, 10 photographs and 3 travel essays. For less than the cost of a glass of a fine wine or a tall cup of your favorite coffee, you can own the eBook... And they're just clicks away...