The poetry of everyday life : storytelling and the art of awareness / Steve Zeitlin ; with a foreword by Bob Holman.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Kindred spirits : poetic souls -- Intimacy in language : poetry in family expressions -- Laughter for dessert : lightness of being -- The poetry of ping-pong : the art in sport -- Days of chess and backgammon : life's game board -- Inventing a language for love : sex as poetry and play -- Poetry on the porch : a time set aside -- All my trials : the healing powers of poems and tales -- The AIDS poets : living with dying -- Did you see the ashes come gently falling down : September 11 street poems -- The poemobile dreams of peace : writing with light -- Free market flavor : poetry of the palate -- The poetry in science : metaphors explaining mysteries -- Navigating transitions : poetry in rites of passage -- The human unit of time : the space between memory and legacy -- Your body as symbol : written in ash -- Intimations of immortality : the artist's secular sphere of spirituality -- God is in the details : your ur poem -- Place moments : writing about place in time -- Breath on the mirror : finding your own voice -- The best stories versus my story : shepherding the word into the world -- The grease lamp's flicker and flare : dark caves illuminate -- Lion's gate : myths as metaphors -- Rock and word : building a dry stone wall as a lesson in poetry.

Part memoir, part essay, and partly a guide to maximizing your capacity for fulfillment and expression, The Poetry of Everyday Life taps into the artistic side of what we often take for granted.