Poetry Anthologies

Moonrise Press occasionally publishes poetry anthologies; so far five anthologies have appeared, as listed below.

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​We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology (2020), ed. Maja Trochimczyk and Marlene Hitt

Edited by Marlene Hitt and Maja Trochimczyk, and entitled We Are Here: Village Poetry Anthology, this collection presents 80 poets featured during the monthly readings at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga, CA as well as the group of current and former Poets Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga who organize the readings. The Village Poets have also had occasional visits to the McGroarty Arts Center, the former home of the California Poet-Laureate in 1933-1944, John Steven McGroarty. His Poet-Laureate title inspired the local Poet-Laureate program, initiated in 1999. The anthology's editors are both former Poets-Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga: Marlene Hitt was the First, in 1999-2001 and Dr. Maja Trochimczyk served as the Sixth in 2010-2012 when the readings were initiated. The book consists of two parts: Guests and Featured Poets, represented by 1-3 poems each; and Poets-Laureate, with 10 local poets, represented by 6-8 poems each. A list of Village Poets Readings, a brief history of the program, and biographies of the poets are also included. The 290-page anthology is published in two formats, as a paperback and an e-book in ePub format.  The colorful cover, designed by Maja Trochimczyk, features artwork by Polish-American poet and painter, Andrew Kolo. 
MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK. 
​BUY IT NOW: PAPERBACK ($22 plus mailing) ISBN 978-1-945938-39-9 (paperback) 
BUY IT NOW: EBOOK ($10) ISBN 978-1-945938-40-5 (eBook, ePub) 

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​Grateful Conversations (2018), ed. Maja Trochimczyk and Kathi Stafford

Edited by Maja Trochimczyk and Kathi Stafford. Grateful Conversations is a portrait of a group of female poets from California, who come together each month to hone their craft and share their verse.  Known as Westside Women Writers and active as a group since 2008, they include Millicent Borges Accardi, Madeleine S. Butcher, Georgia Jones Davis, Lois P. Jones, Susan Rogers, Kathi Stafford, Sonya Sabanac, Ambika Talwar and Maja Trochimczyk.  In the words of the WWW founder, Millicent Borges Accardi, this is “a community of women writers working together to support each other with strong attention to craft, to grow as writers and as people in community.” The volume, illustrated with photographs by the authors, includes poems written for seven workshops and self-portraits in poetry of the nine writers. ​​The workshops include such themes as: writing on a prompt, ekphrastic poetry (inspired by Van Gogh, ancient Greek sculpture, and contemporary art at the Broad Museum), site visits to museums (Norton Simon Museum, Getty Villa, The Broad, The Museum of Jurassic Technology), grandparents and rivers. The table of contents with a list of poems is posted on the Moonrise Press Blog. MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK. 
BUY IT NOW: PAPERBACK, $24.80 + S&H; COLOR PAPERBACK, $88; EBOOK, $10.00.

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​Crystal Fire. Poems of Joy and Wisdom (2022), ed. by Maja Trochimczyk 

Edited by Maja Trochimczyk, and illustrated with paintings by Ambika Talwar, the “Crystal Fire” anthology gathers poems of joy and wisdom by 12 poets, 8 women and 4 men: Elżbieta Czajkowska, Joe DeCenzo, Mary Elliott, Jeff Graham, Marlene Hitt, Frederick Livingston, Alice Pero, Allegra Silberstein, Jane Stuart, Ambika Talwar, Bory Thach, and Maja Trochimczyk. The poets span all ages and diverse life experiences. They include émigrés from Poland, Cambodia, and India, and those born in the U.S. College professors join community poets. Native speakers appear alongside those for whom English is the second, or even the third language. Young graduates and retirees. Married, single, or widowed. The ”joy and wisdom” they write about are also different, as each poet follows their own path and gathers unique reflections to share with their readers.
MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK:  https://moonrisepress.blogspot.com/2022/09/moonrise-press-publishes-crystal-fire.html
BUY IT NOW:  ISBN 978-1-945938-57-3 (color hardcover), $68.00 plus S&H;  ISBN 978-1-945938-58-0 (color paperback), $53.00 plus S&H;  ISBN 978-1-945938-59-7 (eBook), $10.00, instant download

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Meditations on Divine Names (2012), ed. by Maja Trochimczyk

This anthology of poetry on religious and spiritual themes, includes 140 poems by 64 poets. The content of Meditations on Divine Names is organized into the following ten sections: Naming, Names, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, He, She, Being, Loving. This framework avoids the conventional divisions into Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, or Light and Darkness. It also goes beyond religious denominations, or specific divine names, such as Yahweh, Allah, and Christ, or Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Similarly, there is no separation of poems into different religious denominations and spiritual traditions. Different themes are intertwined in each poem and their order follows thematic threads within each section - bread, sunlight, birth, mothering... Poets belong to different religious denominations or spiritual traditions.[...] From the four letters of YHWH to Lada or Pele, the anthology catalogs some unusual divine names. Poets reflect on the act of naming, the facts of knowing and unknowing of our God(s). They give testimony to their hopes and beliefs, and share what they find beautiful and inspirational, or, sometimes, disturbing. There is darkness around and death, but the poets look for ways to ascend above, to illumination. 
MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK. 
​BUY IT NOW:  ISBN 978-0-9819693-8-1, paperback, 216 pp. $21.00 (2012)
ISBN 978-1-945938-16-0, E-book in E-Pub format, $10.00 (2018)​

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Chopin with Cherries. A Tribute in Verse (2010), ed. by Maja Trochimczyk

​This volume celebrates the 200th birth anniversary of Polish pianist-composer, Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849). Ninety-one poets are represented here; they live in the U.S., England, France, Mexico, the Philippines and Poland - with family roots in Poland, Australia, China, France, India, Italy, Malta, Mexico, the Philippines, Serbia, and other countries. The anthology includes 123 poems in English, and one important Polish poem, Cyprian Kamil Norwid's Fortepian Szopena, in a new English translation by Leonard Kress (this is the first English translation of Norwid's masterpiece, considered too difficult even by the translator of his entire oeuvre, Adam Czerniawski). English-language classics include verse by T. S. Elliot, Emma Lazarus and Amy Lowell.
MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK
BUY IT NOW.  ISBN 978-0-9819693-0-5 (paperback), 256 pages, $23.00 
BUY IT NOW: ePub e-book format, $9.99  BUY IT NOW: PDF Download, color photos, $10.00
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