A wonderful poetry resource

This past week, I've returned to poetry for my early morning writing. I reached a place in my novel where I needed some longer sessions to resolve the issues and I have a writing retreat coming up next week that will be perfect for that. But I didn't want to risk losing momentum and the habit of writing first thing in the morning so I've gone back to poetry.

It was such an abrupt shift and I was feeling a bit bereft, missing Frankie and Lola and Callie, my characters, that I couldn't seem to get going on the poetry. So I perused my shelf and pulled out Steve Kowit's In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet's Portable Workshop. This book bills itself with a third title: "A lively and illuminating guide for the practicing poet."

Well, it lives up to that and more. Steve has a wonderful way of explaining things, of teaching the reader about poetry and how it works. He is encouraging, inspiring, and so clear. His ideas got some things really going for me, both his selected examples of other poets' techniques and his suggestions for writing our own.

If you've been interested in writing some poetry or enlivening what you are already writing, I highly recommend this book.