The Practice of Poetry

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ISBN: 9780062730244 | 006273024X
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 2/25/2010

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Summary

Supplemental Materials

A distinctive collection of more than 90 effective poetry writing exercises combined with corresponding essays to inspire writers of all levels.

This guide to writing poetry combines essays by practicing poets and poetry teachers with exercises covering inspiration, the senses, voice, structure, and revision

INTRODUCTION

PART 1. LADDERS TO THE DARK: THE UNCONSCIOUS AS GOLD MINE

(30)

First Words

(2)

Ann Lauterbach

Not-So-Automatic Automatic-Writing Exercise

(3)

Thomas Lux

Translations: Idea to Image (for a group)

(3)

Carol Muske

Dream Notebook

(2)

Maxine Kumin

Ten-Minute Spill

(2)

Rita Dove

Auction: First Lines (for a group)

(2)

Michael Waters

"Only Connect"

(3)

Sydney Lea

Chanting the Flowers Off the Wall (for a group)

(2)

Christopher Davis

An Emotional Landscape (for a group)

(5)

Cleopatra Mathis

A Journey to Nowhere

(2)

Susan Snively

The Free-Lance Muse

(2)

Ann Lauterbach

PART 2. THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD: IMAGE AND METAPHOR

(28)

One's-Self, En-Masse

(2)

Michael Pettit

Intriguing Objects Exercise/ "Show and Tell" (for a group)

(2)

Anne Waldman

Breaking the Sentence; or, No Sentences but in Things

(3)

Roger Mitchell

Five Easy Pieces

(2)

Richard Jackson

As/Like/Finish the Sentence

(2)

Linnea Johnson

Quilting in the Ditch

(2)

James McKean

Getting at Metaphor

(2)

Roger Mitchell

A Little Nightmusic: The Narrative Metaphor

(3)

T. Alan Broughton

Experience Falls Through Language like Water Through a Sieve

(3)

Susan Mitchell

Writing the Spectrum

(2)

Elizabeth Spires

"Tell by Showing": An Exercise Against Technique

(3)

Roger Mitchell

PART 3. WHO'S TALKING AND WHY?: THE SELF AND ITS SUBJECTS

(48)

A. ASPECTS OF VOICE

(24)

Dramatic Monologue: Carving the Voice, Carving the Mask

(3)

David St. John

The Widow

(2)

Maura Stanton

Our Suits, Our Selves

(2)

Christopher Gilbert

Letter Poems

(3)

Robin Behn

Tabloid Tone Exercise

(2)

Lee Upton

The Peasant Wedding (for a group)

(3)

Mary Swander

Estrangement and Reconciliation: The Self Has It Out with the Self

(2)

Leslie Ullman

"In the Waiting Room"

(5)

Carol Muske

B. WHAT'S IT ABOUT?

(22)

Who We Were

(2)

Edward Hirsch

Your Mother's Kitchen

(2)

Rita Dove

The Night Aunt Dottie Caught Elvis's Handkerchief When He Tossed It from the Stage of The Sands in Vegas

(3)

David Wojahn

Not "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (for a group)

(2)

Garrett Hongo

Extrapolation

(1)

Pamela Alexander

Evolutions

(2)

Deborah Digges

Afterimages: The History of a Reflection

(2)

Jay Klokker

Subject and Sound: The Black Sheep

101

(3)

Kenneth Rosen

A Poem That Scares You

104

(3)

Sandra McPherson

PART 4. TRUTH IN STRANGENESS: ACCIDENTS, CHANCE, AND THE NONRATIONAL

107

(30)

Intelligence Test

109

(2)

Alberta Turner

Personal Universe Deck

111

(3)

Linnea Johnson

The Cut-and-Shuffle Poem

114

(2)

Jack Myers

Finish This!

116

(3)

Stuart Friebert

Twenty Little Poetry Projects

119

(4)

Jim Simmerman

Collaborative "Cut-Up"

123

(2)

Anne Waldman

Found in Translation

125

(1)

Theodore Weiss

Homophonic Translation

126

(2)

Charles Bernstein

Commentary on Charles Bernstein's Homophonic Translation

128

(1)

Pamela Alexander

Index/Table of Contents Exercise

129

(2)

Lee Upton

Make Your Own System!

131

(6)

Jackson Mac Low

PART 5. LAWS OF THE WILD: STRUCTURE, SHAPELINESS, AND ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES

137

(34)

Block, Pillar, Slab, and Beam

139

(2)

Deborah Digges

The Fill-in-the-Blanks or Definition Poem

141

(2)

Jack Myers

Opposites: The Attraction of Titles

143

(2)

Stuart Dischell

Cleave and Cleave

145

(2)

Carol Muske

Matthewsian Invisible Hinge

147

(1)

Pamela Alexander

"Que Sera, Sera" and Other False Premises

148

(2)

Christopher Gilbert

"The Props Assist the House"

150

(3)

James McKean

The Familiar

153

(2)

Alicia Ostriker

Writing Between the Lines

155

(3)

J. D. McClatchy

The Poetry Obstacle Course

158

(2)

Marcia Southwick

Important Excitements: Writing Groups of Related Poems

160

(4)

Maggie Anderson

The Short Narrative Poem

164

(3)

Roland Flint

The Cat Poem

167

(2)

Alicia Ostriker

The Seduction Poem

169

(2)

Alicia Ostriker

PART 6. MUSICAL MATTERS: SOUND, RHYTHM, AND THE LINE

171

(42)

A Lewis Carroll Carol

173

(2)

Karen Swenson

Emotion/Motion/Ocean/Shun

175

(2)

Susan Mitchell

Patterning

177

(2)

Stephen Dunn

Breathless, Out of Breath

179

(2)

Richard Jackson

Free-Verse Lineation

181

(1)

Sharon Bryan

A Variation on Sharon Bryan's Free-Verse Lineation

182

(2)

Jack Myers

"Lyric" Poetry

184

(3)

Dana Gioia

Shall We Dance?

187

(2)

Richard Jackson

Short Lines and Long Lines

189

(2)

Andrew Hudgins

Word Problems and Science Tests

191

(2)

Robin Becker

Anglo-Saxon Lines

193

(2)

Judith Baumel

Sapphic Stanzas

195

(3)

Judith Baumel

Pantoum

198

(2)

Judith Baumel

Attempting a Villanelle

200

(5)

Molly Peacock

Ghazal: The Charms of a Considered Disunity

205

(5)

Agha Shahid Ali

The Meter Reader

210

(3)

Thomas Rabbitt

PART 7. MAJOR AND MINOR SURGERY: ON REVISION AND WRITER'S BLOCK

213

(47)

A. EXERCISES

215

(26)

Writer's Block: An Antidote

217

(4)

Daniel Halpern

Smash Palace

221

(2)

William Matthews

Rhapsodizing Repetitions

223

(2)

Lee Upton

Stealing the Goods

225

(2)

Stephen Dunn

Jump-Starting the Dead Poem

227

(1)

Lynne McMahon

Scissors & Scotch Tape

228

(3)

Chase Twichell

In a Dark Room: Photography and Revision

231

(5)

Maggie Anderson

The Party of the Century (for a group)

236

(3)

Roger Weingarten

The Shell Game

239

(2)

Thomas Rabbitt

B. REFLECTIONS

241

(19)

The Rewrite as Assignment

243

(2)

Stanley Plumly

Household Economy, Ruthlessness, Romance, and the Art of Hospitality

245

(4)

Richard Tillinghast

Of Revision

249

(2)

Donald Justice

In Praise of Malice: Thoughts on Revision

251

(6)

Lynn Emanuel

Waiting and Silence

257

(3)

Susan Snively

APPENDIX A: Mail-Order Sources of Poetry Books

260

(3)

APPENDIX B: Published Works Referred to in the Text

263

(21)

CONTRIBUTORS' NOTES

284

(9)

INDEX

293

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The Practice of Poetry

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials