Recommended Books For Poets
Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse by Mary OliverJust as dancing is "the art of moving in accord with a pattern," says Mary Oliver, so is writing metrical verse. "One sorts out the pattern, one relies on it, and relaxes from effort to pleasure." The rules (concerning rhyme, line length, and pattern) are made if not to be deliberately flouted,then at least to be toyed with."
Getting the Knack: 20 Poetry Writing Exercises 20
by Stephen Dunning and William Stafford is a book that will introduce you to 20 different kinds of poetry starters and provides exercises in writing poems based on both memory and imagination. The exercises are engaging and easy to understand . There are instructions on found poems, letter poems, pantoums, question-answer poems, and syllable count poems. Their writing style is breezy and conversational, the examples provided are of high quality yet not out of reach for a new writer. This book is often used as a text for student writers. The Bloomsbury Rhyming Dictionary
is a a useful tool for poets, and can frequently help generate unexpected word choices when you are thinking in form. Packed with useful information in an accessible format, this dictionary is fun and easy to use. A simple alphabetical index helps the reader locate a full set of rhyming words in the book's main text, making finding the perfect rhyme as easy as using a dictionary.The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser, 13th U.S. Poet Laureate, and like his own poetry, it's a simply written book of "Practical Advice for Beginning Poets."
Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry
is designed to make it easy for students to hear or read a poem on each of the 180 days of the school year. The collection's editor, poet Billy Collins, says "I have selected the poems you will find here with high school students in mind. They are intended to be listened to, and I suggest that all members of the school community be included as readers. A great time for the readings would be following the end of daily announcements over the public address system.
Listening to poetry can encourage students and other learners to become members of the circle of readers for whom poetry is a vital source of pleasure. I hope Poetry 180 becomes an important and enriching part of the school day." 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day
continues the 180 project that Collins began while he was Poet Laureate with an additional group of contemporary poems. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
These have been called the most famous and beloved letters of our century. Rainer Maria Rilke himself said that much of his creative expression went into his correspondence, and here he touches upon a wide range of subjects that will interest writers, artists, and thinkers. In Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse
, Mary Oliver says that "Just as dancing is "the art of moving in accord with a pattern, so is writing metrical verse. "One sorts out the pattern, one relies on it, and relaxes from effort to pleasure." The rules of rhyme, line length, and pattern are useful to writers and readers of poetry."We wanted to create a book," say poets Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux in their introduction to The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry
that would focus on both craft and process." They warn against cliche, and although textbooks on writing come a dime a dozen these days, theirs is head and shoulders above the rest. There are three main sections: "Subjects for Writing" (e.g. death, the erotic), "The Poet's Craft" (metaphor, rhyme), and "The Writing Life" (self-doubt, writer's block); four separate appendixes list other writing texts, anthologies, marketing tips, and electronic resources. The many exercises offered emerge largely from the intensive one-day workshops that have been conducted by Addonizio and Laux. "The trick," say the authors, "is to find out what we know, challenge what we know, own what we know, and then give it away in language."Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within
is a "sequel" to Companion by Kim Addonizio. This book is less prompts and more about her insights into the creative process, craft, and the lessons of her own creative subjects--love, loss, identity, community--are here, along with a heady variety of writing exercises (and innovative ways to use the Internet). "Poetry is not a means to an end," Addonizio maintains, "but a continuing engagement with being alive." A good guide for beginners and experienced poets, for groups and in the classroom.
The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises From Poets Who Teach
edited by Robin Behn is unlike some of the other books here. This is a collection of exercises from a different poets and each one is expanded on in a commentary and explanation from the poet.Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words
is sometimes compared to two very good and popular books about writing that do not focus on poetry - Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird and Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones. Those two books promote the idea of abandoning the idea that you can't write and to just start writing. Susan Wooldridge divides her book into 5 sections with short chapters and each chapter ends with a "Practice" - a simple non-threatening creative exercise or suggestion.
