Songs of Excelsior collects poems by poets associated with New York City from throughout history. Poems go as far back as the Dutch colonial period of the 1600s. The poems cover all topics, but there is a separate section at the end for poems specifically about New York City. Many little known masterpieces appear alongside better known works such as Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" and Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas" ("'Twas the Night before Christmas"). The backgrounds of the poets are as diverse as would be expected of those of New York City writers: there are Dutch colonists from the 1600s, patriotic writers from the period of America's infancy, abolitionists and witnesses to the American Civil War, and black poets not only from the Harlem Renaissance but also from the Nineteenth Century. Famous names like Herman Melville, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emma Lazarus, Julia Ward Howe, and Langston Hughes appear beside poets who deserve more acclaim such as the Cary sisters (prominent feminist leaders of the Nineteenth Century), James Sloan Gibbons (a member of the Underground Railroad), and Lewis Howard Latimer (a black engineer and civil rights activist who worked with both Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison). Songs of Excelsior presents the thoughts of poets touched by New York City's distinct cultural influence across time and is as much a historical record of thought as a collection of works of transcendent beauty. Poetry is eternal and, no matter their origins, New Yorkers have always set their eyes on eternity. Book available exclusively on Amazon: