The Erotic Spirit : An Anthology of Poems of Sensuality, Love, and Longing (Shambhala Library)

Rating:
Summary: Guaranteed to Amaze and Inspire!
Review: I purchased this book as a bon voyage gift for my new love who had to leave the country for a few months during the throes of our blossoming romance, and it has done a tremendous job of helping keep the home fires blazin'! He says it's the best poetry book he's ever read. The poems perfectly capture all aspects of the longing, lust and yearning of lovers throughout the ages. If you're looking for the perfect romantic Valentine's gift for your partner, this is definitely it. A must-read for die-hard romantics everywhere.

Rating:
Summary: the erotic spirit in ALL its forms????
Review: This anthology is good but one thing that bothers me deeply is that it is "homophobic"--it includes work by Whitman, Dickinson, Sappho, Shakespeare, Adrienne Rich, Olga Broumas, Lorca but all selections of gay and lesbian poets, known and not so, even the notes on the authors, have been "neutered". This I find very strange today for an anthology that claims to be about "the erotic spirit in all its forms". Sam Hamill, you have really disappointed me--I thought you were more open-minded than that!

Rating:
Summary: A rousing read
Review: This is a great bite sized sampler of some of the world's best erotic and romantic poetry, bridging the ages from the earliest known writings to poetic mind of the twentieth century.

Poetry is at its best when it's most impassioned, so there's no better subject for verse than romantic and erotic love. From the Song of Songs to Robert Herrick, to William Shakespeare and Walt Whitman, these poems speak to the heart, the mind, and the soul, as well as the more southerly regions.

It's an inspirational and arousing collection packed with enough vivid images to make a poetry lover out of even the most visually oriented male.