Announcement about Unhoused – Yearning for Home Anthology of Poetry, Art, Photography, and Essays. Lighthouse background with book cover forefront with art featuring a bench, backpack, shoes under a beacon of light on a rainy night. Homes with lights on are in the background.
About Unhoused – Yearning for Home
UNHOUSED – Yearning for Home is a powerful and deeply human anthology exploring the realities of homelessness, displacement, migration, statelessness, and the universal search for belonging. Through evocative poetry, poignant flash writing, true stories, and compelling artwork, this collection gives voice to those who have experienced the loss of home—whether through war, poverty, immigration struggles, discrimination, economic hardship, or social instability—and to those who bear compassionate witness to these experiences.
Far beyond politics and headlines, UNHOUSED – Yearning for Home focuses on the emotional truths behind displacement: the grief of losing safety, the ache of isolation, the resilience required to survive, and the enduring hope of finding connection, identity, and peace. The anthology shines a light on the invisible struggles faced by unhoused and marginalized individuals around the world while honoring their courage, humanity, and determination to endure.
Editors Jia-Li Yang and Candice Louisa Daquin are both immigrants with extensive experience working in homelessness and crisis support services. It was their inspiration that drew the interest of Prolific Pulse Press LLC. This collection continues the press’s tradition of publishing meaningful social justice anthologies that amplify underrepresented voices. All four editors offer a glimpse of their experiences in the foreword.
Raw, compassionate, heartbreaking, and hopeful, UNHOUSED – Yearning for Home invites readers to look beyond stereotypes and statistics to witness the deeply personal realities of what it means to search for safety, stability, and a place to call home.
A portion of the UNHOUSED – Yearning for Home proceeds will benefit The Women’s Center of Wake County, Raleigh, North Carolina.
These twenty-four short poems are personal rather than political, reflective rather than polemic – quiet observations shaped by a life that has been, at times, unruly, uneven, and richly human. They invite the reader not to debate or defend, but simply to recognize: to nod in wry agreement at the small absurdities, contradictions, and tender ironies that fill our everyday lives.
Drawn from a long and garishly checkered journey – one navigated more by instinct than intention – these poems distill experience into brief, free verse moments. They could have unfolded as sprawling autobiographical narratives, layered with embellishment and softened by false modesty. But that is not their nature. The voice here leans toward the epigrammatic rather than the epic, favoring canapés over feasts – small, carefully offered portions meant to be savored, not consumed all at once.
At the heart of this collection lies a lifelong devotion to language. Beyond family, the author’s enduring love affair has been with reading, writing, and speaking words – finding in them both refuge and revelation. These poems arise from that relationship: an urge not just to observe life, but to shape it into something shareable. Many of these pieces have found their way into print and into the air – read aloud to audiences, sometimes more than once – where their quiet truths and subtle humor continue to resonate.
The subjects are not grand events or sweeping declarations, but the small, often overlooked details that give life its texture: fleeting thoughts, peculiar habits, private contradictions, and the strange comforts we build for ourselves. Each poem captures a moment of recognition – sometimes amused, sometimes bittersweet, often both at once. Together, they form a mosaic of perspective: two dozen glimpses into a mind attuned to the eccentricities and quiet wonders that surround us.
This is a book that does not rush. It lingers. It invites pause. It allows space for reflection, for a half-smile, for the subtle realization that what seems uniquely strange is often universally shared. There are no epic climaxes here, no sweeping resolutions-only the gentle accumulation of insight, the steady uncovering of meaning in the seemingly mundane.
In these pages, we are reminded that life’s significance is rarely found in its grandest moments, but in its smallest ones: the passing thought, the odd realization, the quiet acceptance. These poems offer not answers, but companionship-a recognition that we are all navigating our own peculiar paths, doing the best we can with what we notice, remember, and feel.
This little book allows us to smile at the absurdities we put ourselves through, while also inviting us to slow down long enough to savor the moments that offer contentment. It is, at its core, a celebration of the imperfect, the peculiar, and the profoundly human.
Ed Ahern resumed writing after forty odd years in foreign intelligence and international sales. He has had over six hundred stories and poems published so far, and twelve books. Ed works the other side of writing at Bewildering Stories where he squats on the editorial board, and at Scribes Micro, where he is the idle figurehead.
What Others Have to Say
“I became a straggler in the jostling crowd
elbowing forward toward an unseen cliff,”
If you are ready to ‘wander into the thick woods without trails or patterns’, grab a copy of Ed Ahern’s Peculiar Perspectives. This poetry chapbook, containing 24 poems, will lead you to a world shaped by experience, memory, aging, and epiphany observed from the quieter edges of life. Just imagine how fascinating it would be to traverse through these fascinating, often overlooked byways and alleys of everyday life, sharing the wit, candor and unflinching honesty of his poetry.
Munmun Samanta – Author of Yellow Chrysanthemum
Ed Ahern may call himself a “geriatric poseur with aching muscles” whose courting of intimacy with life is touched by shades of mortality. Believe him. And don’t. He may sense that he’s becoming fractional even as he picks up all around him “lingering aromas / of a burning world.” Believe him. And don’t. Why do I waver as I come into the presence of this mind, this imagination, this man? I can only guess that it may be because here we have a poet who walks through the loam of life even as he floats above the muck, leaving me, in the process, to hang in the air holding on to ambiguity by one hand and ambivalence by the other. Until, that is, I read him chanting “Over time there is only the gathering.” Then I settle into a sense that now we have arrived, he and you and I, to rest in our all-too-human world-fragile and unique, and precious in the haunting darkness of the universe.
Professor Ralph Nazareth, distinguished leader of Curley’s Poets
Ed Ahern’s wit glows in the dark as he walks through the woods losing and finding his way back through the trails he creates with his sharp-edged words. And his understanding and compassion for those who are lucky to know him glow in his original, heartfelt images.
Janet Krauss, adjunct professor emeritus from Fairfield University, author of Borrowed Scenery andThrough the Trees of Autumn
Peculiar Perspectives leads readers into the untamed menagerie of Edward Ahern’s musings about nature, aging, family, loss, and everything in between. Filled with open self-reflection, as well as a humorous, sometimes jaded viewpoint, this collection is a sampling of some of Ahern’s best new poetry. He is excellent at illuminating those quiet moments and reflections that no one talks about, but everyone knows about and will never admit to. Reading these short verses, you’ll find yourself smiling at the absurdities – and the intrinsic rewards – of being human.
Alison McBain Award-winning poet & author of The New Empire
What a wonderful time we had discussing this and that and, oh yeah, writing and poetry. Juntu Ahjee is as much a friend as an artist in his own right. It’s been four years since our last talk and a lot of changes have happened. Just sit back and listen in on this fun interview. When you’re done, go check out Ahjee’s books. There’s not a one I have not fallen in love with. Give it a shot. https://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Store-Juntu-Ahjee/s?rh=n%3A133140011%2Cp_27%3AJuntu%2BAhjee
We are pleased to announce that “Perihelion” by Roberta Batorsky is now ready for your bookshelf. Her debut poetry book, “Perihelion” is a poetry collection which has been carefully crafted, critiqued, and polished for the best of reading.
About “Perihelion”
This book uses powerful, colorful imagery and often humor, applied to everyday life situations, to delve deep into the realms of love, loss, childhood, memory, aging, relationships, partnership and friendship. The writer’s command of language, including colorful and strong vocabulary, will appeal to poetry readers of all stripes in its accuracy, insight and universality. Her critical insight and unsparing explorations of feelings will bring readers into her circle with recognition of the beauty of her words and the similarities with their own experiences. Her love for nature and ability to describe people’s lived experiences, mental problems, societal upheaval, relationship struggles, love for family, and deep love for, and familiarity with, literature will inspire all who pick up her book. Her style is a giving and loving one which will be meaningful to all readers.
Note the cover design by Kelli Jackson of KRynae Design Co. She really captured the meaning of the poem by the same name.
What others have to say:
It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to Perihelion, the debut collection of poetry by Roberta Batorsky. Roberta’s poetry has taken the literary community by storm, her words will make you want to sit up and think, stir emotions, as she pulls you into her world. Her poetry reflects her interest in people, through lived experiences and the world of science. Each one is full of humour, pathos, and empathy. She is incredibly articulate and precise, reflecting her intellectual ability as an educator.
This collection has over one hundred poems; each one is a masterpiece in its own right, beautifully crafted to perfection. Each poem gives you an insight into her life and the lives of others, incredibly observant and full of wit, as you are transported to her world.
This book will appeal to readers of all ages and genders because it is relatable, to enchant, move and delight. Stand out poems include “American Standard or The Loo’s Lament,” “Social Dancing on Neptoon,” “Lost Lives Matter,” “Unstrung, for Richard,” “I Remember It,” “If I die first,” “Picking Apples in Stilettos,” “Bismillah,” “Autumn Finds Me,” “My Dis Connect,” “Drinking with Mom,” “Man to Man,” “The Walkers in the Rain,” and “Gasp.” This poignant book of poetry is an entertaining read, will make you laugh out loud, smile in places and shed a tear, extremely relatable and utterly brilliant, it will be a welcome addition to your bookshelf, a classic in the making.
Sarfraz Ahmed, Poet and Writer (UK)
Roberta Batorsky’s “Perihelion” carries rich layers of meaning in the context of poetic creativity. Like planets drawing close to the sun, the poet’s voice circles the most intense experiences of human life: mental health struggles (“Unit 4,” “New Year to Be Born”), grief (“Irreplaceable, for Mariana”, “Tremolo”), and love (“You Are All I Need”). These are moments of most excellent exposure, where both illumination and pain work together. It suggests that poetry itself becomes a perihelion. In this space, the poet dares to move nearest to the burning core of experience, and in doing so, offers illumination to the readers. In “Perihelion”, readers encounter humour, grief, survival, and renewal in equal measure. It is a collection that burns close, like its namesake, leaving the reader illuminated.
Roberta Batorsky is a Biology teacher and freelance science writer. Her poetry reflects her interest in people, their lived experiences and science. She writes with empathy, knowledge and humor and has been published in Heron Clan, Fine Lines, NJ Bards, Delaware Valley Poets and other collections. This is her first book. She lives in NJ with her husband and has 2 children and 2 grandchildren.
Home Remedies: a review of Cancer Courts My Mother by LindaAnn LoSchiavo. Prolific Pulse Press. Raleigh, NC. November 2025
It would be hard to find a person whose life, directly or indirectly, has not been touched by cancer. Just as cancer takes many forms, people’s mental, emotional, and physical responses vary. LindaAnn LoSchiavo’s response is this book. Out of ugliness, the frightful fact cancer kills, she has wrought beauty, this sequence of poems. A reader’s appreciation of them may be heightened by taking a look at their metaphorical resonance and their distinction between honesty and artifice; and, ultimately, by considering the voice of the poet, a daughter speaking about her parents.
The book’s title Cancer Courts My Mother suggests an extended metaphor. The tenor, cancer, is a suitor. A suitor is defined as a man who courts a woman. Although the title suggests otherwise, the woman the suitor courts is the daughter, the poet. In “Arrival” she says, “I know he’s made himself at home, the dark prince …conveying her into his sunless realm.” Yes, death is conveying the mother but it’s daughter who knows. And she is the one being courted, the one who hears the dark prince’s seductive whispers, the one for whom “terminal illness / twirls out of the speech of men.” At the end of “Tick Tick” she says, “Cancer, biding his time, taunts me.” In “Early Visit from the Grim Reaper,” “His baritone commanded me to GO!” In the “Bartering with Cancer,” the octave begins with “When medicine has nothing more to give / There’s only daughters and morphine…” And in the turn, the second half, she says, “I’m stunned.” In “Jaundice,” she says, “my mother wound up with him —Cancer —,” but in the realm of life, cancer courts the daughter, the maker of these poems.
They are interesting for their distinction between fact and fiction, honesty and artifice. Interesting, compelling, haunting. “Diagnosis” begins the sequence. Its abrupt enjambments signal an urgency that inclines the speaker towards artifice.
Transformation’s required, starting with your voice, Hemorrhaging with euphemisms, lies. You could Be an actor fed fake dialogue, words almost A well-rehearsed performance. You could be- Come an acrobat, clutching the girders of hope. A Safety net’s missing. The laughter is a ghost’s.
The abiding artifice is the poems.
Even imagination threatened to betray me, failing to make good on the fancies I’d hope to invent. But pen and paper became the dependable parents I’d always longed for. With them, I sketched realities I could eventually escape to.
That passage is the conclusion of “Mother Magnified,” which is an honest account of the friction between the speaker and her mother, one aspect of this mother and daughter relationship. Yet another realm of reality, that not only counters the artifice “an actor fed fake dialogue” but also the wooing of “the dark prince” is the life of plants. In “Green Nursemaid” the daughter tends her mother’s plants, “suturing new healthiness into the exhausted potting mixture.” While other flourishes of artifice appear in the forms of mythic “mermaids” and the “prayer candles” of religious ritual, the plants symbolize continual life, and, in “Living through the Dying,” which begins with the imperative “Resuscitate the wilted,” their tenacity and the poet’s.
To consider the voice in the poems is to consider the speaker, a poet facing the grim reality that many of her reading audience have faced or will face: cancer kills. The poet’s mother’s suffering is terminal; then there’s her father’s suffering and her own. Her voice, what is said, and how, reflects the human heart in conflict with itself. Signs that say Fuck Cancer are brandished by people who hate the thing that is killing their love ones. I love, I hate —they suggest, conveying that conflict. The poet’s “realities” she “could escape to” suggests her speaking, and putting pen to paper is cathartic. She is also defiant. In “Early Visit …” the reaper says, “GO! She says “No!”
Cancer Courts My Mother consists of poems in free verse and in tradition forms. While its rhymes resolve, there is no closure; the poet’s turmoil remains. Cancer took her mother. A mother’s suffering and eventual absence, left a daughter and a spouse/ father to grieve. The poet’s grief is poignantly conveyed throughout this sequence. Towards the end she says, “When my mother died, she took home along with her.”
Peter Mladinic was born and raised in New Jersey. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1973 and earned an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas in 1985. Professor emeritus at New Mexico Junior College, where he was a member of the English faculty for thirty years. During that time, he was a board member of the Lea County Museum and president of the Lea County Humane Society. He is the author of several poetry collections.
As a teacher, I will always remain a student. In the classroom of life, l wish to work with and educate others. Whether you’re a teacher, student, or just your average person, here are a few of my "TEACHERble" moments.
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