"I can't begin to say what brought me here, " confesses the narrator of Mid-century, an American lexicographer, down on his luck, who turns to Ireland in hopes of finding solace in the landscape and a respite in Ireland's wartime neutrality. Seeking definitions in a culture which resists them, he discovers in Irish history a refraction of his fortunes and obsessions. Mid-century tells an engrossing story of defeat and recovery, of devastation and spiritual renewal. Earlier versions of some of these poems first appeared in Sewane Review, Seneca Review, and Chelsea.

This artist-approved songbook to Ben Howard's chart-topping album, I Forget Where We Were, is the first time Ben's music is available in sheet music form and includes all songs that appear on the album, plus an exclusive bonus track, I am in your light, all arranged for piano, voice and guitar. His second album after Every Kingdom in 2012, I Forget Where We Were debuted at number one on the UK charts.

Ichigo ichie ("one time, one meeting"), a motto associated with the Japanese tea ceremony, enjoins the host and guests in the tea hut to treat each encounter as unprecedented and unrepeatable. Infused with that conviction, the poems of Ben Howard's sixth collection bring an exact and ceremonial attention to the things of this world.

Published originally as biweekly columns, the fifty essays in this collection bring the age-old practice of Zen to bear upon contemporary life. Whether their immediate subject be shoveling snow or baking bread, the virtues of solitude or the emotional dimension of social media, these lucid, graceful essays explore the manifold ways by which we might take the backward step, shifting our orientation from ego-centered thinking to selfless awareness. Wise and true, writes Roshi Joan Halifax of The Backward Step, this wonderful book transmits the essence of practice realization.

Part memoir, part almanac, and part primer on meditation, Entering Zen is addressed to anyone who might wish to take up the practice of meditation, or deepen an existing practice, or explore the nuances and complexities of the Zen tradition. The seventy-five essays in this collection first appeared as columns in the Alfred Sun, the community newspaper of Alfred, New York. Ben Howard is Emeritus Professor of English at Alfred University and a longtime practitioner of Zen and Vipassana meditation. His previous books include Leaf, Sunlight, Asphalt and the verse novella Midcentury.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone