Table of Contents
introduction 13
I entering poetry
1 leaping in the dark 19
2 make a book 23
3 first thought, worst thought 27
4 getting started 32
5 opening doors 47
6 your genius, your demons 55
7 line, breath & vision 61
8 by heart: a Shakespeare sonnet 77
9 describe this 81
10 read this 92
II inner and outer worlds
11 identity 1: boys, girls & bodies 99
12 three meditations 109
13 by heart: a love poem 113
14 love & sex poems 115
15 me, myself & i 127
16 what you don't know 135
17 three observations 145
18 the pain-body 148
19 ha! working with humor 156
20 identity 2: race, class & privilege 164
21 the whiskey on your breath: addictions 170
III the poem's progress
22 metaphor 1: the shimmer 179
23 white heat, necessary coldness 187
24 a bag of tricks 199
25 the poem's progress 204
26 metaphor 2: parts & the whole 217
27 enchantments: myths & fairy tales 226
IV toward mastery
28 music & meter 237
29 write a sonnet 249
30 a poem you love: close reading 256
31 page to stage: performance 259
32 word/art: make a broadside 263
33 two heads: collaborations 269
34 do-overs & revisions 273
35 publishing & the pinocchio syndrome 287
36 mirror at the end of the road 294
appendix A poems & poetry resources online 299
appendix B recommended reading 303
credits 309
