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Obamatyme: Election Poetry by Melodye
Micere Van Putten won the category, Poetry: Urban in the 2009 National Best Book Awards!
Click here to read the USA Book News Press Release announcing the 2009 National Best Book award recipients.
The Elevator Group is pleased to introduce two books
of poetry by Melodye Micere Van Putten: Soul Poems (September 2009) and Obamatyme: Election Poetry (October 2009).
Both books are now available at www.Borders.com, www.BarnesandNoble.com, www.Amazon.com, and other bookstores and online booksellers. Order directly from your local independent book store at links further
down this page.
“Melodye
Micere Van Putten is a talented poet whose love for truth and justice is quite evident in Obamatyme. Don’t
miss it!”-- Cornel West
"Melodye Micere speaks with a voice of authority
and caring. Her Soul Poems demand that we listen, internalize her articulations and enter her landscape of
living words. This book is refreshing, thoughtful and welcoming."--Haki R. Madhubuti, University Distinguished Professor
and Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Chicago State University. His latest book is Liberation Narratives:
New and Collected Poems 1966-2009.
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 Obamatyme: Election Poetry by Melodye Micere Van Putten (October 2009); ISBN
978-0981971957 ; 80 pp.; $15.95 In honor of the one year anniversary of the historic election of President Barack Obama, Melodye Micere Van Putten
offers this collection of poetry that chronicles her feelings from the intense campaign season starting in September 2008
and through the early days of the Obama administration in 2009. Van Putten never believed that she would live to witness the
election of an African American man to the Presidency of the United States and, like millions, she worked the campaign with
time and money. Her poetry chronicles the roller coaster feelings machine of disbelief and pride, rage and inspiration, and
despair and hope that she felt leading up to the election. When negative campaign tactics agitated her, Van Putten, who has
long used poetry as a favored medium for therapeutic and emotional release, began writing these poems to get the feelings
out of her aching head, hurting heart and agitated body. The poems are dated, arrange chronologically, and indexed by subject.
Obamatyme: Election Poetry is offered for you to read, laugh, shake your head, agree or disagree, but most of all--to enjoy.
“Obamatyme” is a wonderful
journey through poetry into the emotions of America in general, and African Americans in particular, regarding the wave known
as Obamatyme. Micere seems to have captured the time in some scintillating poetry that takes us through the chronology
of this significant historical period of social change. It is written in such a way that it can be enjoyed by people of all
ages, as well as being a learning source of information for high school and college courses. It is well written and well thought
out, and I willdefinitely use it in my Introduction to Africana Studies class and suggest it to my faculty colleagues in both
sociology and political science to help them supplement their forays intoBlack politics. It will make a wonderful gift and
keepsake and will be one of those gifts that keeps on giving.” — Dr. Terry Kershaw, Professor and Head Department of African and African American Studies
Editor, International Journal of Africana Studies, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
Hear the author read a selection of poems
from this book below. Audio excerpts © 2009 by Melodye Micere Van Putten.
Thomas Lowery, Percussionist.
Inauguration Day: In a Word
Pray
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 Soul Poems: Life
as Fertile Ground by Melodye Micere VanPutten (September 2009); ISBN 978-0978685461; 96
pp.; $15.95 This collection of women's poetry represents slices of the large pie of the author's
life experiences, from the sacred to the defiant to the challenges we all live daily. Written over 15 years, these poems celebrate
life in its myriad manifestations: love journeys, delicious coffee, beholding the natural wonders of God's handiwork, and
affirming women as worthy with many gifts to share and improve our world. The poems are organized in the following sections:
Sacred, Defiance, Sister Friends, Challenges, and Affirmations. There is also a Glossary of Women, which contains a brief
statement about the women mentioned in the various poems. The poems are also responses to the author's many awe-inspiring
experiences, in which she has been blessed to live and be an active participant: academic conferences, a women's retreat in
South Africa, and an unexpected year working in Bermuda, which changed the trajectory of her life. Hopefully, these poems
will remind you never to forget our history, to know who you are and stand confidently in your own skin while passing on the
wisdom learned to the younger sisters. Finally, these poems seek to place in perspective the longer trek of our collective
earth journeys so that we can indeed embrace the love, joy, laughter and peace that are available to us who courageously seek
it.
Hear the author read selections from Soul Poems below.
Audio © 2009 by Melodye Micere Van Putten. Thomas Lowery,
Percussionist.
The Prayer of Women
The name of this poem is obvious (I've got a poem stuck in
my head).
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Buy Soul Poems: Life as Fertile Ground
Buy Obamatyme
President and CEO of Black History Works, Inc., Africalogist Melodye Micёre Van Putten,
author of Obamatyme: Election Poetry and Soul Poems, is an international education consultant, writer, and lecturer.
Specializing in the practical application of African-centered values, she was named a Time magazine rising star in 1989. She
lectures in universities, consults to school districts, and conducts training for teachers and parents. Pennsylvania's House
of Representatives and Senate, the city of Philadelphia, the NAACP, and Bermuda's House of Parliament have recognized her
for her work.
Click here to see Melodye's blog, In Pursuit of Excellence, at http://melodyemicere.typepad.com.
Melodye Micёre Van Putten, author of Obamatyme: Election Poetry
and Soul Poems. Read more about Melodye and hear her read some of her poems on this page:
Obamatyme: Election Poetry & Soul Poems
Click here to see Melodye's blog, In Pursuit of Excellence, at http://melodyemicere.typepad.com.
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Bermuda Premier Dr. Ewart Brown receives a copy of
Obamatyme: Election Poetry from Melodye Micere Van Putten on the occasion of the Bermuda launch of Obamatyme and Soul
Poems: Life as Fertile Ground on September 11 in Bermuda.
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