It should come as no surprise that poets are often exceptionally fine cooks, savoring food the way they savor words and at the same time recognizing that just as a gathering of words does not necessarily mean a good poem, neither does a mixture of ingredients necessarily mean a good recipe. In Cooking with the Texas Poets Laureate, the editors, all members of Dr. Paul Ruffin’s 2014 graduate Editing/Publishing class, solicited recipes and food-related poetry and prose from Texas Poet Laureates of this millennia. The result is a most unusual gathering of personalities equally comfortable with the spatula or the pen. Eating Texas It’s taken a long apprenticeship to make waffles in the shape of Texas. First there were mountains over Waco. Then the Panhandle sank. A few more false starts when the Red River swamped Oklahoma and the Rio Grande dripped into Mexico. Now I can make perfect ones. All I have to do is take care to stop pouring the batter a little shy of El Paso, Dalhart, and Texarkana. For some reason, Brownsville needs more. Otherwise, my grandchildren complain they don’t have the tail of Texas to bite off.

Contains recipes and food-related poetry and prose along with biographical sketches of recent Texas poets laureate.

There are moments in this life that change everything—some in our control, some not, but all shape the core of who we are; who we become. Every action, every event, has its own reaction that rearranges the stars, putting the sisters of Fate and Choice in constant question. This collection embraces those changes, opens them up, rolls them into the delicious magic of this unpredictable, glorious world. A long observer of the natural world, karla k. morton does not believe in coincidences, but believes every word and step and observation has meaning and guides us. Just as the creation of the Minotaur was the gods’ doing, there is beauty in the monster; there is reason and magic in its very existence. How lucky we are to be able to grow old enough to witness such revelations. Morton’s poetry guides us through the landmarks—the highs, the lows, creating an exquisite world within an ever-changing landscape of chaos. The Margaret Lea Houston Series ... from “Pentimento” I have a few regrets, but not one of them is loving you.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “America’s favorite poet.”—The Wall Street Journal From the two-term Poet Laureate of the United States Billy Collins comes his first volume of new and selected poems in twelve years. Aimless Love combines fifty new poems with generous selections from his four most recent books—Nine Horses, The Trouble with Poetry, Ballistics, and Horoscopes for the Dead. Collins’s unmistakable voice, which brings together plain speech with imaginative surprise, is clearly heard on every page, reminding us how he has managed to enrich the tapestry of contemporary poetry and greatly expand its audience. His work is featured in top literary magazines such as The New Yorker, Poetry, and The Atlantic, and he sells out reading venues all across the country. Appearing regularly in The Best American Poetry series, his poems appeal to readers and live audiences far and wide and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. By turns playful, ironic, and serious, Collins’s poetry captures the nuances of everyday life while leading the reader into zones of inspired wonder. In the poet’s own words, he hopes that his poems “begin in Kansas and end in Oz.” Touching on the themes of love, loss, joy, and poetry itself, these poems showcase the best work of this “poet of plenitude, irony, and Augustan grace” (The New Yorker). Envoy Go, little book, out of this house and into the world, carriage made of paper rolling toward town bearing a single passenger beyond the reach of this jittery pen and far from the desk and the nosy gooseneck lamp. It is time to decamp, put on a jacket and venture outside, time to be regarded by other eyes, bound to be held in foreign hands. So off you go, infants of the brain, with a wave and some bits of fatherly advice: stay out as late as you like, don’t bother to call or write, and talk to as many strangers as you can. Praise for Aimless Love “[Billy Collins] is able, with precious few words, to make me cry. Or laugh out loud. He is a remarkable artist. To have such power in such an abbreviated form is deeply inspiring.”—J. J. Abrams, The New York Times Book Review “His work is poignant, straightforward, usually funny and imaginative, also nuanced and surprising. It bears repeated reading and reading aloud.”—The Plain Dealer “Collins has earned almost rock-star status. . . . He knows how to write layered, subtly witty poems that anyone can understand and appreciate—even those who don’t normally like poetry. . . . The Collins in these pages is distinctive, evocative, and knows how to make the genre fresh and relevant.”—The Christian Science Monitor “Collins’s new poems contain everything you've come to expect from a Billy Collins poem. They stand solidly on even ground, chiseled and unbreakable. Their phrasing is elegant, the humor is alive, and the speaker continues to stroll at his own pace through the plainness of American life.”—The Daily Beast “[Collins’s] poetry presents simple observations, which create a shared experience between Collins and his readers, while further revealing how he takes life’s everyday humdrum experiences and makes them vibrant.”—The Times Leader

Wooden Lions is the ultimate animal-lovers’ book, with each poem in this amazing collection cradling the soul of a creature. Morton’s poetry winds through our connection with the animal spirit, breathlessly binding us forever in their wisdom; their endless lifting up of humankind. This is a celebration of all beasts, reminding us to cherish all those who nurture us. A percentage of these book sales will be donated to animal shelters and facilities across the country. The Lion. The Lioness Come to me. Come to me like the river’s roar, like ravens at the morning’s door. There’s no knock; no bronzed lion to pound and wake, just yawning dawns; the lush daybreaks opening like sunrise. I, your troubadour will sing across your kitchen floor; enough warmth to stay the dark; to overtake each fear, each tear the wicked make slip your cheeks. Let my arms be your sacred shore; may loneness haunt you nevermore. I, the flawed, give you my sovereign heart to take— each bounty, glory, each mistake forgiven; clasping hands through destiny’s door. Let us be fearless. Let us roar.

Did you know that Pre-Columbian Mexican cuisine was low in fat and high in fiber and vitamins? The book opens with a short introduction outlining the history of Mexican cooking, followed by an overview of healthy eating habits, a description of the most common ingredients, and a useful guide to planning for parties.