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Summary: A cornucopia of exercises from poets we read and respect
Review: This book is a must-read for any poet, regardless of skill. It has exercises ranging from terribly technical to wildly free formed. They are fun, sometimes even silly, and lead the reader into mental places they might never have thought to go. The results of the exercises always suprise the reader, and I would say that if a poem doesn't suprise it's writer, nothing has been learned. I recommended this book to a freshman poetry class and they all did many, many exercises on their own time. (Not a small feat for time-pressed college students!) Overall, I rank this book right up there with other indispensible books for poets such as Writing Down The Bones by Natalie Goldberg and Letters to a Young Poet from Rilke. Read this book, but don't just read it--live in it, sip from it, allow it to lead you where you may not know you need to go. You will be better for it, both in your writing and in your spirit.
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Summary: name is spelled incorrectly
Review: Twichell is spelled incorrectly in the summary of the book you've listed on your page
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Summary: A very useful repository of ideas and approaches.
Review: When I bought this book, I envisioned it being like Kowit's "In the Palm of Your Hand" or Addonizio and Laux's "Poet's Companion". It isn't.Instead of the comfortable, conversational and pretty easy-going tone and pace of the other two books, this is a densely packed collection of exercises from a great many different poets. Each exercise is set out, and then expanded on in a very useful essay/note/commentary from the poet who contributed the exercise. In some ways, it is this latter feature that is the most useful. Quite often you will come across a poetry (or any other) exercise, where it is quite clear what you are meant to do, but with no clue about what it is that you are trying to achieve. Here, each exercise has an accompanying explanation. Problem solved. Because the exercises are contributed by so many different poets, it is unavoidable that there will be some exercises which seem pointless or stupid or irrelevant. This is where the explanation part comes in handy once again. Don't like the way the exercise is structured? Read on, find out what it is that you are supposed to be doing, and redraft the exercise to suit your own personal needs/tastes. Overall, this is a very useful little book. My copy is only one year old, but is seriously dog-eared and full of strips of paper serving as bookmarks. With the number of different poets/attitudes/approaches included, there are bound to be sections that you read with a sense of either boredom or incredulity. Never mind - there are plenty more sections that will have you scrabbling for pen and paper. Maybe the best way of using the book is to think of it like a well-stocked pantry cupboard - browse, take what you need today, leave the rest for dinner tomorrow, or boil leftovers down for soup ...
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