Books For Authors
The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets [Paperback]
Ted Kooser
(from the publisher) Recently appointed as the new U. S. Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser has been writing and publishing poetry for more than forty years. In the pages of The Poetry Home Repair Manual, Kooser brings those decades of experience to bear. Here are tools and insights, the instructions (and warnings against instructions) that poets—aspiring or practicing—can use to hone their craft, perhaps into art. Using examples from his own rich literary oeuvre and from the work of a number of successful contemporary poets, the author schools us in the critical relationship between poet and reader, which is fundamental to what Kooser believes is poetry’s ultimate purpose: to reach other people and touch their hearts.
Much more than a guidebook to writing and revising poems, this manual has all the comforts and merits of a long and enlightening conversation with a wise and patient old friend—a friend who is willing to share everything he’s learned about the art he’s spent a lifetime learning to execute so well.
(from Martin H. Dickinson) Having just won the Pulitzer Prize and being named to a second term as Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser ought to know what he's talking about--and he really does. This book is filled with practical advice and a wealth of ideas and techniques for his fellow poets. He is really strong on simile and metaphor and how to use them correctly. He is also very insightful on how to work with detail. Most books about poetry have lots of exercises and dwell on the topics you might write about -- how to get your ideas together.
Kooser breaks the pattern of the typical poetry manual: no exercises, but tons of practical advice. You can hear him talking over your shoulder. One of the greatest things Kooser does is remind us that the poem is directed to a reader--gets us thinking about our audience, who they are and what they want. A poem is communication--a poem is intended to be read by someone.
I find one of the most interesting things to be Ted Kooser's reflections on poetry itself which light up every page with their wisdom and wit. We learn, for example that most of our poetry nowadays is anecdotal -a kind of "cracker barrel" set of anecdotes about our own lives--and he doesn't really criticize this so much as point it out and suggest it wasn't always this way, and it doesn't need to be this way. Writing a poem is about choices and you have the option of stepping back from the window of the poem and not having yourself in it quite so much. He suggests going out on "poetry patrol," in the supermarket, the yard sales, the cafes to do people watching. This is exactly what Whitman did. You can tell Walt Whitman went out and watched the carpenter sawing through the plank, smelled the sawdust, watched the sailor making the boat fast to the dock etc. -- that's how you get so much specific and concrete detail.
It's obvious from reading Kooser's own poetry that he practices what he preaches. He has an eye, and ears and a nose for the specific and concrete details of the real world--just as Whitman.
One of his most interesting observations is about the way metaphor and simile create a bridge to another dimension of seeing--another plane of existence. He doesn't exactly call this spiritual or make any metaphysical claim for this special place that poetry brings us to--but it's very exciting to hear him talk about. Something to strive for in writing. The best poets take us there. Beginners can use this--but it's not just for beginners.
Anyone wanting to write poetry or simply read more attentively will find The Poetry Home Repair Manual a superb guidebook.
$8.10, order from Amazon.com
$10.60, order from Barnes & Noble
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