Deann Armes, Special to the Standard-Examiner

“Anthology of Hope,” a new release by Ogden-based Glass Spider Publishing, is the perfect book to snuggle up with this winter. It is a collection of over 30 poems, stories and other writings from local, national and international writers in response to a call for words of positivity during the COVID-19 outbreak and other world crises of 2020. The independent book was listed as the No. 1 new release in poetry books on Amazon in its first week of publication in October of this year.

“(A)ll we have to do to exterminate the darkness is to call upon those carrying the light,” writes Vince Font, founder and chief editor of Glass Spider Publishing, who had the idea for “Anthology of Hope” during the pandemic.

“That was a watershed year in my life, just as it was for everyone else who experienced it,” he said. “Between an unchecked raging pandemic and widespread civil unrest (the killing of unarmed Black citizens that led to the BLM protests, and the post-election attack on the Capitol), I felt I’d somehow entered the kind of nightmare world I used to read about as a kid in books like ‘Soylent Green’ and ‘The Stand.'”

After searching for answers on how to cope and turning up short, Font said he realized he’d have to rely on himself to make his own world a better place. He started meditating and sharing positive stories and anecdotes on social media, “mostly as a way of reminding myself that there was still some light left in the world.” Soon, he was asking others to join in and share their poems and stories, which led to him putting them in a book format.

“It was the book I needed, and maybe the book others did, too,” Font said.

Deann Armes, Special to the Standard-Examiner

Glass Spider Publishing’s first poetry anthology, published in 2019, was a collection written by Ogden-area poets called “PoetFlow Anthology,” named after the weekly PoetFlow open mic event that was held at Lighthouse Lounge on Historic 25th Street until the pandemic began. Christina Miller, who took over PoetFlow after its originator Janica Johnstun, is featured in both poetry collections.

Two of Miller’s poems are included in “Anthology of Hope” — “Fire and the Forest” describes how the forest survives after fire and “New Shoes” is about tossing out the old and breaking in a new pair of shoes.

“They kept me safe through the worst of winter’s storm. My feet knew each seam and stitch like an old friend. But as seasons change, the life of these trusty shoes comes to an end. Their dance is over,” Miller writes in “New Shoes.”

Miller said she responded to Font’s call for submissions with the most hopeful poems she had, which were written before the events of 2020. “I tried to write new poetry during the pandemic, and everything came out angry and frustrated. I struggled with finding hope,” she said.

The poems she submitted for “Anthology of Hope” were written at a time when Miller had “more faith in overcoming the issues at hand.” “My creativity comes from wanting to connect with others. But watching all that hate and people not caring about each other made me want to hide away,” she said about the past year and a half. “That’s why this anthology is important. I don’t think I’m the only one who was feeling the heaviness of the world.”

Re-reading her own poems before submitting them for the new anthology gave Miller renewed hope. In “Fire and the Forest,” she writes: “The spring rain comes to awaken the power of those roots/the forest is free to grow again/Rising from the ashes to carry life back to the branches. Life is what remains.”

The call for submissions for “Anthology of Hope” was open to people of all ages and experience levels who had words of positivity and hope to share. Font received submissions as far away as East Africa — poems and stories written by fourth grade students from Pleasant Hope Academy in Kenya are included.

A poem by the Kenyan fourth graders titled “Who Will Understand The Children?” renders a heart-piercing resolution: “I have hope. Teachers have time to understand the children.”

Poetry is best when it’s raw and unpolished, said Font, when it “captures thoughts and emotions that the vast majority of us don’t know how to express in words, things that we don’t even realize we feel until we read them in a poem and say, ‘These words speak to my heart.'”

Font contributed three of his own pieces for the anthology after not having written for years. In 2020 he was moved to pick up the pen (or keyboard) as a way to express emotions instead of holding them inside. “That’s what causes bitterness and anger, and I think we have far too much of that already in the world,” he said.

In his poem “Unbroken,” Font comes to the realization and acceptance that he’s not as strong as he always thought he was: “And just because something breaks doesn’t mean it’s garbage. I think of all the things I own, Broken in some way…”

Expressing himself through writing is the only thing he’s ever been able to do well, Font said. During the dark days of 2020, it’s what he turned to as a way to find hope. “It felt like the only thing I could do to make any difference at all,” he said. “It felt cleansing and empowering and healing. And it came as a great relief to know I wasn’t the only person in the world who felt the way I did.”

The writers in “Anthology of Hope” offer healing through honest, relatable words and refreshingly simple subjects. Cindy A. Jones seeks solace in the everyday beauty often overlooked, “like the piano notes coming from next door” in “In the Morning Everything’s a Poem”; Crysta Gardner finds “a glimpse of light” in a snowflake in the short poem “Aspire”; and Mo Lynn Stoycoff’s “Happy Hour” captures the grace of a beloved pet and a blue sofa — “This is the first piece of furniture I ever bought new, one that has only known the weight of me — plus this little brown dog, who in this ordinary moment is doing the daily work of saving my life.”

Rin Brighton tells of resilience and empathy through a tiny fallen bird, a “fat, plopping raindrop” who failed to fly in “Fell” — “you’re angry/ of course you are.” And a new world of possibility is outlined in artist, pediatrician and professor of medicine Susan L. Prescott’s essay “Earth Rising.”

“Anthology of Hope” is a timely antidote to the psychological pain many are feeling during the holidays this winter season and continuous economic, political and environmental issues worldwide. It uses the power of words about nature and our shared human experience as a reminder that survival, renewal and peace are still possible in a “broken” world.

In Font’s words, “writing keeps the light inside alive” and Glass Spider Publishing’s new anthology is proof of that.

“Anthology of Hope” can be purchased on Amazon or directly from Glass Spider Publishing at glassspiderpublishing.com.

Newsletter