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The Poet's Companion leads Poets toward Better Writing

© Roxianne Moore

A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry

If you're a beginner, this is a great place to start. Even if you've never taken a formal writing class, let alone a course in poetry writing, you won't be at sea. Authors Kim Addonzio and Dorianne Laux envisioned this book as a guide to the craft and process of poetry writing. What they've come up with is a take-home poetry course.

All parts of the book are meant to work together, from the list of subjects for writing to the nuts and bolts of imagery, style, and meter. Twenty minute exercises and a glimpse into the writer's life round out the book.

Topics include:

1. Subjects for Writing
   • Writing and Knowing
   • Writing the Erotic
   • Witnessing
2. The Poet's Craft
   • Images
   • The Music of the Line
   • Stop Making Sense: Dreams and Experiments
3. The Writing Life
   • Self Doubt
   • Writer's Block
   • Writing in the Electronic Age
   • Getting Published

The exercises are particularly valuable. Each chapter contain examples and ideas for writing. The Twenty-Minute Exercises at the end are good jumping off points. When you've completed the exercise, you'll have a finished first draft of a poem. Of course, the quality of the poem depends on your own experience and ability, but I can almost guarantee anyone can write better poems with these starters. Anyone, beginner or advanced.

Here's part of one exercise as a sample of what The Poet's Companion can do for you:

A Simple Exercise

"This was an exercise given to a class of advanced students. The rules were simple:"

1. Write about Writing
2. It's cold outside
3. It should be snowing by now, but it isn't.
4. Identify the time of day
5. Use the pronoun "we."
6. Use the word "florid" in a way it would not normally be used.

Go ahead. Give it a try. Then come up with some rules of your own during the next week, and keep writing!

The Internet was a wealth of information for poets. A few I like:

• The Internet Poetry Archive features a nice selection of poems from Czelslaw Milosz, Seamus Heaney, Phillip Levine, Robert Pinsky, Margaret Walker, and Yusef Komanyakaa. You can listen to some of the poems, as well as a couple of lectures, with Real Audio.

• The Irish Poetry Page offers an extensive list of Irish Poets, as well as links to other Irish pages and Irish poems set to music.

• AHA! Poetry is a completely different kind of site. It features an Open Mic (some of the poems are pretty good), plus links to other poetry sites, magazines, and guidelines.