Customer Reviews

The Colors of Life: The International Library of Poetry

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I called poetry.com and they told me everyone is on the first page so they do not have to search the book for their poem. Well I also found out they only sell the book to the author and not the public us authors would have to do that on our own. Calling Poetry.com I heard so many different stories I do not know which one is the truth.

My name is Karen Ter-Sarkisian. My poet SOLITUDE is on the first page of MY copy of the book. After receiving The Colors of Life I was proud for a while. I thought since my poem was on the very first page, it was the best, or one of the best poems in the collection. Until I found out the truth: every poet has his or her poem on the first page of their copy(s). This is a trick: making you to believe that you are the best in order to make you send more poems, spend more money. Vanity Publication-that how it is called. To pay in order to be published. Each participant poet must pay $49.99 for their copy which regularly would be no more than $15 retail price. Vanity publications don't have any value for our career as poets. Now, if someone is willing to pay couple of dollars (no more than that) to purchase this book, go ahead, there are some really good poems, but also really bad ones as well.

I don't read much poetry, but someone very close to me wrote a wonderful poem that happened to end up in this book. So of course, I automatically love it! But, I also found many other interesting, and varied, poems while browsing through the rest of it. It is a fun collection written by a wide range of people - some professional writers, others who just write on the side. All in all, a charming book, and I love it! I'm glad they printed this.

I would think this was a great poetry book but I'm confused about the different poems that are supposed to be in the book that I can't find and the way others are on the first page like mine is. I've done some research and thought This book was very special for me but now I don't recommend it to anymore and don't waste your money on it.

For all of you poets who are in this book I just want to let you know this book is what is called a "vanity press". I bet you entered your poems on to poetry.com and then got a semi-finallist letter in the mail, everyone who enters poetry does. Unfortunely only the good poets fall into their trap and buy the books thinking they are true elite poets.I was tricked by them. Some of you most likely are top-notch poets, but poetry.com is a scam. Vanity press publishers publish anyone for money. They use flatery to get you to buy their books. This is not at all illeagal. Their is nothing wrong with vanity press, but I just thought you would like to know the truth. Please fellow poets, Keep Writing.

I always get the feeling that I look into somebody's soul when I rread their poetry, and find something for myself as well.I definitely did with this book and will always go back to it.I'm honored to be one of the poets featured in this book.

Some call this book a "scam". This book is what ever you think it is. To some this book is just a book. To others this book is a way for them to get their utmost thoughts in a book of memories. I bought this book knowing all well that it was I and only I who would get copies with my poem in it. I did buy two but that was so I could have a poem I wrote for a friend put in a book. If I wanted to have someone create two books with my poem and poems by others I would have to pay for the copy writes to the other poems and that alone would cost lots of $$$$. This was a low cost way for me to have my poem put in hard cover and to me that was well worth the money I paid.

Both I and my daughter submitted poems for this book "The Colors of Life" ISBN:0-7951-5239-6(both books 2003), and we both bought a book for ourselves. When we compared both of our books, we each had our poem on page 2 (mine was actually page 2 and 3 in my book, because I wrote a biography, and the page 1 is blank), but neither my poem was in her book nor hers in mine. It appears the other 220 pages are the same (page 4 on). They just pasted our poem page into the front of the book! I tried to look up the ISBN, Library of Congress has 1 copy, I'm betting that this copy is different from everybody else's copy on pages 1,2, and 3, either that, or the only poems published in the original printing are on pages 4-223.
By the way, every single reviewer that mentioned thier poem here is in neither mine nor my daughter's copy of this book. My poem is "Happy Birthday Tony" by Cindy Arriaga, my daughter's poem is "Liar" by Cathleen Rochel(Editor's Choice).
There are some good poems in there, but who knows how they were obtained, and who knows what happened to our "published" poems.

Both I and my daughter submitted poems for this book "The Colors of Life" ISBN:0-7951-5239-6(both books 2003), and we both bought a book for ourselves. When we compared both of our books, we each had our poem on page 2 (mine was actually page 2 and 3 in my book, because I wrote a biography, and the page 1 is blank), but neither my poem was in her book nor hers in mine. It appears the other 220 pages are the same (page 4 on). They just pasted our poem page into the front of the book! I tried to look up the ISBN, Library of Congress has 1 copy, I'm betting that this copy is different from everybody else's copy on pages 1,2, and 3, either that, or the only poems published in the original printing are on pages 4-223.
By the way, every single reviewer that mentioned thier poem here is in neither mine nor my daughter's copy of this book. My poem is "Happy Birthday Tony" by Cindy Arriaga, my daughter's poem is "Liar" by Cathleen Rochel(Editor's Choice).
There are some good poems in there, but who knows how they were obtained, and who knows what happened to our "published" poems.

"The Colors of Life," is a very worthwhile collection of poems. Each poem featured, shows great imagination and feeling from within. Many reflect things that have happened in ones life time. From an authors' viewpoint, I believe that Mr. Ely has selected poems that will appeal to all age groups, and bring much pleasure to the reader. I am pleased and honored to be selected, as one of the authors to be featured in his book.