The deliberately-lowercase poemcrazy (1996) by Susan Wooldridge is a little self-help book (as its subtitle "Freeing Your Life with Words" hints) in the guise of a portable poetry workshop. There's good advice on imagery, emotion, and language, but scarcely a nod in the direction of form, meter, or other traditional aspects of versification. The author writes well, though rather too autobiographically. Her rhapsodies about the wisdom of Native Americans and the Kabbalah are sporadic distractions. But the exercises at the ends of many chapters are productively provocative, and the overall enthusiasm and spirit that Wooldridge brings to the table are likely to be liberating to the inhibited bard.

TopicPoetry - TopicLiterature - 2006-12-13

(correlates: RegressionToTheMean, EinsteinianAdvice, New Nickel, ...)