Making Poems

This diverse collection of poems and companion essays by forty nationally and internationally known poets allows readers to experience the creative process through the eyes and voice of each poet. No matter how often we are told that revision is an essential component of poetic composition, it can be difficult to resist the temptation to think of the poem as having sprung spontaneously, Athena-like, from the writer’s head. By exposing readers to the finished product as well as the poet’s own account of the poem’s creation, Making Poems offers a behind-the-scenes perspective on the poetic process that will fascinate both beginning and established writers. The book also affords poetry instructors an opportunity to demonstrate to their students the ways in which poems can originate from seemingly mundane and unlikely sources. Poets include Jan Beatty, Robin Becker, Fleda Brown, J. L. Conrad, Jim Daniels, Todd F. Davis, Chris Dombrowski, Dan Gerber, Jeff Gundy, Kimiko Hahn, William Heyen, H. L. Hix, John Hoppenthaler, Ann Hostetler, Julia Spicher Kasdorf, David Kirby, Gerry LaFemina, Mary Linton, Shara McCallum, Dinty W. Moore, Erin Murphy, Mary Rose O’Reilley, Lee Peterson, Greg Rappleye, Keith Ratzlaff, Jack Ridl, Steven Sherrill, David Shumate, Aaron Smith, Lucien Stryk, Mary Swander, Sue Ellen Thompson, Natasha Threthewey, Brian Turner, Lee Upton, G. C. Waldrep, Michael Waters, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, Katharine Whitcomb, and Robert Wrigley.