Hope is a pit bull being held on a leash by someone quickly losing strength, ready and eager to bite its intended target. Hope is the hallucination of a spider creeping along the ceiling in the dark while screaming curses at your bed. Hope is a plague in the blood of broken generations. Hope is a turkey vulture on the side of the road with a taste for dead possum.

Hope is the tongue from which Hallelujah is sung despite all difficult odds and sharp notes of resistance. Hope is the Great Yes of affirmation for life in the face of nihilism and apathy. Hope is a final wave going under and a phoenix rising on the far horizon.

Hope is the subtle dose of electromagnetic synchronicity needed to help you get by when you don’t think you can but know that you must. Hope is the fire stoked in your belly that’s begging for ignition. Hope is the flashpoint gearing up as the count cycles down to 1, 2, 3...

CultureCult anthology of poetry Hope features fifty poets from around the globe who have found themselves in the alternating throes of hope and hopelessness, yet displaying the tremendous vitality that is required to jot down in words their moments of revelation during both pain and pleasure.
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EDITED BY Scott Thomas Outlar

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Poets featured in this anthology are: Adrian Slonaker, Agnes Vojta, Alan Britt, Amrutha Mohan, Ann Christine Tabaka, Antonia Salinas Murguia, Arathy Asok, Bruce Meyer, Carol Alena Aronoff, Chani Zwibel, David Dephy, Debbi Brody, Don Beukes, Donna Snyder, Dorie LaRue, Dr. Rashmi Jain, Dr. Santosh Bakaya, Edward Lee, Gopal Lahiri, Heath Brougher, Jack M. Freedman, Janette Schafer, Joan McNerney, Josei Tarr, Kirsty A. Niven, Linda Imbler, Margarita Serafimova, Marianne Szlyk, Mark Blickley, Mark Andrew Heathcote, Mike Todd, Moinak Dutta, Niels Hav, PW Covington, Rachel Cunniffe, Rebicca Pradhan, S.J. Justice, Scott Thomas Outlar, Sharon Elliott, Shree, Sohini Sengupta, Stephen House, Sunil Sharma, Swapnil Dhruv Bose, Thirthankar, Vanessa Caraveo, Vonnie Winslow Crist, Wafula p'Khisa, Wolf Kevin Martin and Z.T. Balian

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Cover Painting: 'Hope' by George Frederic Watts
Interior Photographs: Adrian Campfield, Ron Smith, Dmitry Ratushny, Kristopher Roller, Peter Herrmann, Claudia Peters