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The Year of the Cat: New Poems
*The Year of the Cat: New Poems* By Laura Stamps ISBN13: 978-1-932926-13-2 ISBN10: 1-932926-13-5 Format: Paperback Publication Date: August 2005 Price: $12.95 Pages: 112 Best Poet of Year for 2005 and Best Poem Book Cover of Year for 2005 from Muses Review Literary Magazine! Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, this beautiful book by award-winning poet and novelist Laura Stamps features 59 new poems sure to delight any cat-lover. Written for readers of all faiths, this mystical collection of cat poems is the perfect gift for anyone blessed by housecats or strays. The book contains three sections: "Cat Pause" (poems with housecats), "The Stray Kitten Chronicles" (poems about stray cats), and "The Year of the Cat" (a long poem, which first appeared in the prestigious literary journal Poetry Midwest). Purchase your copy directly from Artemesia Publishing today. - OR - Print out this order form and mail it to us to order your copy. For a limited time only! Signed copies of The Year of the Cat are available for purchase. Click here to purchase an autographed copy of The Year of the Cat today! Write in "Autographed Copy" on the title line so we know you want one.

The Year of the Cat: New Poems

The Year of the Cat: New Poems
By Laura Stamps

ISBN13: 978-1-932926-13-2
ISBN10: 1-932926-13-5
Format: Paperback
Publication Date: August 2005
Price: $12.95
Pages: 112

Best Poet of Year for 2005 and Best Poem Book Cover of Year for 2005 from Muses Review Literary Magazine!

Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, this beautiful book by award-winning poet and novelist Laura Stamps features 59 new poems sure to delight any cat-lover. Written for readers of all faiths, this mystical collection of cat poems is the perfect gift for anyone blessed by housecats or strays. The book contains three sections: "Cat Pause" (poems with housecats), "The Stray Kitten Chronicles" (poems about stray cats), and "The Year of the Cat" (a long poem, which first appeared in the prestigious literary journal Poetry Midwest).

Purchase your copy directly from Artemesia Publishing today.

- OR -

Print out this order form and mail it to us to order your copy.

For a limited time only! Signed copies of The Year of the Cat are available for purchase. Click here to purchase an autographed copy of The Year of the Cat today! Write in "Autographed Copy" on the title line so we know you want one.

Back to the top.

Reviews
G.L. Giles, Book Reviewer for Psychic Times This book really caught my attention, being that I’m a cat lover, especially with its lovely cover image of “Dancing Cats” by Laura Stamps. And the interior only kept me more entranced. I’d been a fan of Laura Stamps’s prose for a while, having been hooked on her Witchery Series novels, so it should have really come as no surprise that I’d love her poetry, too. Some of my favorites include “Hurricane Season” (being born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina this one particularly hit home), “Status Quo” and “The Tao of Domestic Life.” Be that as it may, they are all wonderful in their own way though. Moreover, Ms. Stamps’s heart is in the right place as she states, “Attention humane societies, pet rescue clubs, and poetry clubs: Take 40% off and use this book for fundraisers, premiums, and gifts (info@artemesiapublishing.com).” Here's a short review of The Year of the Cat featured in the Febuary 2006 issue of *Cat Fancy* magazine: "If you like poetry, you will love Stamps' descriptive Pulitzer Prize-nominated poems. It's easy to lose yourself in her beautiful versus: 'The kittens inch closer to me every day, peering from beneath clusters of maple leaves, their paws kneading pine straw and trillium.'" JD Collins Editor, Fullosia Press "Laura Stamps writes with a soft purr when she speaks of strays and other friends. She has a command of the sound of the language that is so difficult in English, which is not easily rendered lyrically or musically. With a gentle beat in soft tones, she finds the voice worthy of that aristocratic Persian when she fetes us with both poems and kitties." Here's an extended review from JD Collins that appears in the September/October 2005 issue of *Fullosia Press: "Laura Stamps: UnCATegorically CATS Review of The Year of the Cat, http://www.apbooks.net, Artemesia Publishing, Rocky Mount, NC $12.95 "The personal life is over," the Communist Apparachik told Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago as he contemptuously tossed a book of poetry. Perhaps that explains why in the seventy year run of Russian Communism no Russian poet ever outmatched American Bruce Springstein, the undisputed bard of the working class. Yes, Laura Stamp's poetry is all personal, the personal joy of her relationship with her cats. Her love for her cats pours out the gentle flow of words. After the storm the sky [molts] from lavender to kohl… the youngest cat … attempted to scare my oldest… [in] grizzly growl as if… [a] star flowered sky was not an answer to…prayer. (Summer Pattern) Laura has told us little about her background. We do know she was a "Swamp Deb," quite an honor in her state of South Carolina commemorating Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, whose irregular tactics grabbed the haughty British Lion by the tail. Small wonder Laura developed such a personal affection for cats. I have accused Laura of having the Huguenot blood. Laura has a feel for language that is hard to attain in English which tends toward stark directness without a natural lyric or meter. Few reach Laura's mastery of poetry in English, though many offer poor pretense. The beauty of poetry lies in the stretching of the language to allow sound to carry meaning. Few writers recognize this concept. Laura celebrates it in every line. "Listen can you hear it…?" (Every Morning I Stop). And Laura is expert in stretching language to its full potential. Storms don't hit; they "snak[e] toward us…" (Hurricane Season) and "christen the city with a coronation of rain." (It's the Second Week). "The forest shivers with shadows" (The Last Week of September). "Lightening mulches the sky with leaves of fire." (Power). A silence falls "like stain glass saints." (98 Degrees). Laura's poetry draws meaning from its tones: As if I were a painter craving a world etched in fresh color (Sundance) Laura's cats are very present, "their toes tingling to…mischief," (Sparrow), "curled against one another like ebony cupcakes" (Three Cats Collapse) as if "…a pool of mahogany oil…" (Friday), "fully hidden…[like] a black bear wintering in the dimmest cave." (This Isn't A Poem) Yet Laura is always ready to adopt "a new family of strays" (I'll Never Forget) Cats are precious to Laura, "as sweet as summer…as soft as mink." (Daybreak) Surely Laura finds cats: as white as the Spirit that washes away the soul's shadowed corners in a baptism of light (Divine) Yet as much as Laura may "yearn for bird song" (Greed) cats are feral creatures. Other critters may be "grateful for the glass…separa[tion]…from the paws of [the] cat." (Busy With Happiness). Even celebrating the cat in rhyme and cat-minding do come into conflict: "Typing everyday // …with // office cats requires // special skills" (Typing) Year of the Cat is published by Artemesia Publishing Rocky Mount, NC $12.95 You're well advised to place your order right away. "The sky welcomes …but it waits [not] …this time of year." (Ladies in Waiting) Renee' Johnson Poetry Editor, Sunpiper Press* "Laura Stamps has a gift. Well, to say that is an understatement. It is not often that I come across a poet whose work I can read over and over again without becoming tired of it. She is one of those poets. I can speak all day about how talented she is, but one of her most divine qualities is how she allows her spirit to flow through everything she does. From her artistic nature to the way she interacts with people, Laura's positive spirit nurtures the words she speaks, writes, and paints." Mike Burrow Editor, Hawkwind Literary Journal "As I read through a few of her poems, it was good to be reminded how wonderful her poetry is and how easy the words slip in and touch the heart. Laura Stamps, indeed, has a purpose and is weaving her talents into a most beautiful written tapestry. Her poetry is among the best I have ever read." Stephen Morse Editor, Juice Magazine "Laura Stamps' use of language and the deceptive simplicity of her narrative observations please and engage both parts of my brain, thinking and feeling. I feel when I read her work that I am in the company of a best friend, one that allows me to relax and enjoy the simple pleasure of being alive. The world is still there, but its presence is less hyper-human and more humane." Joseph Verrilli Reviewer "Veteran writer/poet Laura Stamps has a marvelous way of creating, or in some cass, recreating an alternate universe. This universe is by no means artificial, fictional, but certainly a departure from the psychopathologies and stresses of everyday American life. She invites the reader to become part of the gentleness and idyllic wonder of her own spiritually-oriented life, in this case the existence shared with her cats. Her love of language is so exquisitely drawn that the reader cannot help but be drawn into this captivating, private universe. Such is the case with her new collection of poems, The Year of the Cat. It is no exaggeration to call this book a captivatingly spiritual read. In "July 14th", Laura writes: 'I awaken this morning feeling/as though something magnificent/happened last night while I/dreamt, while leaping through the flowered fields of sleep, and/now a new day blossoms before/me, a shimmering package I am/eager to unwrap.' And unwrap she does, to discover "Heaven On Earth," in which she writes: 'Likewise, when I slow/my wiggling body long/enough to taste the rich/pudding of the moment,/to experience the eternal mysteries it contains,/I realize this is the place/I have been seeking,/the sacred altar at the/heavenly gates, and/here I will remain.' The reader cannot help but be happily affected by the spiritual vision of the poetry of Laura Stamps. Highly recommended, and well worth rereading time and again."

Reviews

G.L. Giles, Book Reviewer for Psychic Times

This book really caught my attention, being that I’m a cat lover, especially with its lovely cover image of “Dancing Cats” by Laura Stamps. And the interior only kept me more entranced. I’d been a fan of Laura Stamps’s prose for a while, having been hooked on her Witchery Series novels, so it should have really come as no surprise that I’d love her poetry, too. Some of my favorites include “Hurricane Season” (being born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina this one particularly hit home), “Status Quo” and “The Tao of Domestic Life.” Be that as it may, they are all wonderful in their own way though. Moreover, Ms. Stamps’s heart is in the right place as she states, “Attention humane societies, pet rescue clubs, and poetry clubs: Take 40% off and use this book for fundraisers, premiums, and gifts (info@artemesiapublishing.com).”

Here's a short review of The Year of the Cat featured in the Febuary 2006 issue of Cat Fancy magazine:

"If you like poetry, you will love Stamps' descriptive Pulitzer Prize-nominated poems. It's easy to lose yourself in her beautiful versus: 'The kittens inch closer to me every day, peering from beneath clusters of maple leaves, their paws kneading pine straw and trillium.'"

JD Collins
Editor, Fullosia Press

"Laura Stamps writes with a soft purr when she speaks of strays and other friends. She has a command of the sound of the language that is so difficult in English, which is not easily rendered lyrically or musically. With a gentle beat in soft tones, she finds the voice worthy of that aristocratic Persian when she fetes us with both poems and kitties."

Here's an extended review from JD Collins that appears in the September/October 2005 issue of Fullosia Press:

"Laura Stamps: UnCATegorically CATS
Review of The Year of the Cat, http://www.apbooks.net, Artemesia Publishing, Rocky Mount, NC $12.95

"The personal life is over," the Communist Apparachik told Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago as he contemptuously tossed a book of poetry. Perhaps that explains why in the seventy year run of Russian Communism no Russian poet ever outmatched American Bruce Springstein, the undisputed bard of the working class.

Yes, Laura Stamp's poetry is all personal, the personal joy of her relationship with her cats. Her love for her cats pours out the gentle flow of words.

After the storm
the sky [molts] from lavender
to kohl…
the youngest cat
…
attempted to scare my oldest…
[in] grizzly growl
as if…
[a] star flowered sky was
not an answer to…prayer.
(Summer Pattern)

Laura has told us little about her background. We do know she was a "Swamp Deb," quite an honor in her state of South Carolina commemorating Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, whose irregular tactics grabbed the haughty British Lion by the tail. Small wonder Laura developed such a personal affection for cats.

I have accused Laura of having the Huguenot blood. Laura has a feel for language that is hard to attain in English which tends toward stark directness without a natural lyric or meter. Few reach Laura's mastery of poetry in English, though many offer poor pretense.

The beauty of poetry lies in the stretching of the language to allow sound to carry meaning. Few writers recognize this concept. Laura celebrates it in every line. "Listen can you hear it…?" (Every Morning I Stop).

And Laura is expert in stretching language to its full potential. Storms don't hit; they "snak[e] toward us…" (Hurricane Season) and "christen the city with a coronation of rain." (It's the Second Week). "The forest shivers with shadows" (The Last Week of September). "Lightening mulches the sky with leaves of fire." (Power). A silence falls "like stain glass saints." (98 Degrees).

Laura's poetry draws meaning from its tones:

As if I were a painter
craving a world etched
in fresh color
(Sundance)

Laura's cats are very present, "their toes tingling to…mischief," (Sparrow), "curled against one another like ebony cupcakes" (Three Cats Collapse) as if "…a pool of mahogany oil…" (Friday), "fully hidden…[like] a black bear wintering in the dimmest cave." (This Isn't A Poem) Yet Laura is always ready to adopt "a new family of strays" (I'll Never Forget) Cats are precious to Laura, "as sweet as summer…as soft as mink." (Daybreak)

Surely Laura finds cats:
as white as the Spirit
that washes away
the soul's shadowed
corners in a baptism of
light
(Divine)

Yet as much as Laura may "yearn for bird song" (Greed) cats are feral creatures. Other critters may be "grateful for the glass…separa[tion]…from the paws of [the] cat." (Busy With Happiness). Even celebrating the cat in rhyme and cat-minding do come into conflict:

"Typing everyday //
…with //
office cats requires //
special skills"
(Typing)

Year of the Cat is published by
Artemesia Publishing
Rocky Mount, NC $12.95

You're well advised to place your order right away.
"The sky welcomes
…but it waits [not]
…this time of year."
(Ladies in Waiting)

Renee' Johnson
Poetry Editor, Sunpiper Press

"Laura Stamps has a gift. Well, to say that is an understatement. It is not often that I come across a poet whose work I can read over and over again without becoming tired of it. She is one of those poets. I can speak all day about how talented she is, but one of her most divine qualities is how she allows her spirit to flow through everything she does. From her artistic nature to the way she interacts with people, Laura's positive spirit nurtures the words she speaks, writes, and paints."

Mike Burrow
Editor, Hawkwind Literary Journal

"As I read through a few of her poems, it was good to be reminded how wonderful her poetry is and how easy the words slip in and touch the heart. Laura Stamps, indeed, has a purpose and is weaving her talents into a most beautiful written tapestry. Her poetry is among the best I have ever read."

Stephen Morse
Editor, Juice Magazine

"Laura Stamps' use of language and the deceptive simplicity of her narrative observations please and engage both parts of my brain, thinking and feeling. I feel when I read her work that I am in the company of a best friend, one that allows me to relax and enjoy the simple pleasure of being alive. The world is still there, but its presence is less hyper-human and more humane."

Joseph Verrilli
Reviewer

"Veteran writer/poet Laura Stamps has a marvelous way of creating, or in some cass, recreating an alternate universe. This universe is by no means artificial, fictional, but certainly a departure from the psychopathologies and stresses of everyday American life. She invites the reader to become part of the gentleness and idyllic wonder of her own spiritually-oriented life, in this case the existence shared with her cats. Her love of language is so exquisitely drawn that the reader cannot help but be drawn into this captivating, private universe. Such is the case with her new collection of poems, The Year of the Cat. It is no exaggeration to call this book a captivatingly spiritual read.

In "July 14th", Laura writes: 'I awaken this morning feeling/as though something magnificent/happened last night while I/dreamt, while leaping through the flowered fields of sleep, and/now a new day blossoms before/me, a shimmering package I am/eager to unwrap.' And unwrap she does, to discover "Heaven On Earth," in which she writes:

'Likewise, when I slow/my wiggling body long/enough to taste the rich/pudding of the moment,/to experience the eternal mysteries it contains,/I realize this is the place/I have been seeking,/the sacred altar at the/heavenly gates, and/here I will remain.'

The reader cannot help but be happily affected by the spiritual vision of the poetry of Laura Stamps. Highly recommended, and well worth rereading time and again."

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Book Exceprt
Click on the link below to read some sample poems from The Year of the Cat The Year of the Cat sample poems.

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The Year of the Cat: New Poems

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Book Exceprt