Poetry

One of the greatest poets of any century, the Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) drew upon Irish folklore and myth as inspiration for much of his early poetry. Mythic themes as well as many other topics are masterfully explored in this rich selection of 134 lyrics chiefly selected from six volumes of verse published between 1889 and 1914. Among the poems included are "The Stolen Child" and "Down by the Salley Gardens" (Crossways, 1889); "To the Rose upon the Rood of Time," "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," "When You Are Old," and "To Ireland in the Coming Times" (The Rose, 1893); "The Song of Wandering Aengus" and "A Poet to His Beloved" (The Wind Among the Reeds, 1899); "The Song of Red Hanrahan" (In the Seven Woods, 1903); "No Second Troy" and "The Fascination of What's Difficult" (The Green Helmet and Other Poems, 1910); "To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing" and "To a Shade" (Responsibilities, 1914); and many more. This representative selection offers readers a splendid sampling of the distinctive Yeatsian voice -- romantic, yearning, full of the magic and mysticism Yeats imbibed as a boy in the West of Ireland, later counterbalanced by an anguished realism grounded in the poet's nationalistic and political sympathies.

This book titled End Time Bee Poems was written first from the inspiration of my Lord Jesus Christ, who kept the theme of bees through my life and also with the inspiring help of close "fellow worker bee" friends. They have added memorable quotes, visions, and enlightenment with shared stories and experiences. Besides being called "Bee" as a nickname most of my life, it also adapted to "Auntie Bee" and then "Grambee" and also, at times, "Queen Bee." This is how the poems came to be known as "Bee Poems," which became like my own signature for each poem.

I learned a few things about bees and how they work together side by side with a dedication to the hive and the queen bee. Not taking glory in their own works but bringing about the glory of the hive. I found there were many things about the life of bees that paralleled with my spiritual walk. The Lord did not direct me to do much research in regard to bees, but He taught me just what I needed to know that would be relevant to what the poems would be about. I learned that worker bees actually worked while in rest. The subject of entering God's rest is mentioned in many a poem. It was imperative that this message was communicated as the main difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

I was inspired also to add to the title "end time." An urgency of how these times we live in with prophecies of end time happenings coming to pass became the fuel behind getting the poems written. The first poem in the book, "The Bees," was actually one of the last poems written now used as a kind of an introduction of the poems that would follow.

"Spoken word artist, Clarise Annette Brooks has captured her bold and powerful thoughts and ideas on paper in her new book, Excuse Me While I Live My Life. Her themes of mindfulness and responsibility will resonate with readers striving to build a better life for themselves and their surrounding community."

-Hugh Minor, Hey Rhody Magazine

Clarise Annette Brooks is proud to have had a multi-decade career as an educator. Stemming from Queens, New York, she currently lives in Rhode Island with her husband Alexander, their two children Alexa Claire and Daniel Gervais, and their dog, Percy.

Writing has always been a love of hers and she is pleased to share her first book with you

In her free time she enjoys baking, going for long walks beside the ocean, watching old movies and documentaries, browsing through bookstores, listening to interesting podcasts, travelling, and of course, reading poetry.