Quest A Writer's Journey

Original memoirs by outstanding poets from diverse backgrounds who recall how they found their beginnings. While university creative writing programs generally seek to develop the talents of maturing writers, essential information about the development of the craft will be found in these early memoirs. As poet and Writing Professor David St. John wrote the previous anthology: “ Simply the best collection of essays I’ ve ever read about the urgencies, accidents, experiences, and desires that allow people to emerge as the writers they had never dreamt they might become.”

QUEST / A JOURNEY Jane Hirshfield, “ Borge’ s Generosity & Some Thoughts on Doubt” Forrest Gander “ The Questions We Ask Ourselves:” Interview by Jim Natal Danusha Lamé ris, “ How I Came to Poetry” Steve Fellner, “ On Murders, Anorexia, and the Concept of the Soul” Charles A. Matz, “ A Poetry Before Oblivion: Five Rules” Xiaoqiu Qiu, “ The Little Dying” _____________________________________ David Lehman, “ The Birth of the Best” Patricia Carlin, “ At Home” Denise Duhamel, “ In Praise of Colette Inez’ s ‘ Pay Yourself First’ ” Ilya Kaminsky, “ Reading Dante in Ukraine” Amber Flora Thomas, “ A Whole New Essay” Rusty Morrison, “ Writing into Risk” _____________________________________ Mary Mackey, “ My Own Private Jaguars: Craft and Inspiration” (may use a different essay) Sandy McIntosh, “ Coaxing the Hangman” Denise Low, “ Gary Snyder and a Lesson in Consistency” Jim Natal “ Oil & Water” Elaine Equi, “ Square One” Phillip Lopate, , “ Poetic Influence: John Keats’ “ When I Have Fears” _____________________________________ David St. John, “ Titles” Ellen Bass, “ Some Thoughts on Juxtaposition in Poetry” Tony Trigilio, “ The Importance of Being Obstinate” Spencer Rumsey, “ No Spontaneous Bop Prosody! A Professional Editor’ s Advice to Poets Writing Prose” Eileen R. Tabios, “ (Title Below)” Stephen Paul Miller, “ The Poetry Mailing List: Poetry Beyond Borders” Liane Strauss, “ How to Help Your Non-Poet Friends Enjoy Poetry More (Maybe)”