Books for Encouraging Poetry Writing

 Teachers are busy people. Teachers are "on" the whole day and when the day ends they want a bit of time to be "off", but they also love reading, writing, and words. Teachers often want to do personal writing if time can be found after a full day of teaching.
I am often asked to recommend books that are an inspiration for personal writing.With this post the focus is on poetry writing books. It is often more manageable to grab paper and write a few verses of poetry when only fifteen minutes is available here or thirty minutes there. These books have excellent suggestions that would work with writing poetry with students also.
Thirteen Ways of Looking for a Poem by Wendy Bishop
What I love about this book is how each section starts with invention poems by published poets, then Bishop provides invention exercises using that poem.  "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" by Wallace Stevens is the poem she starts off with. Inventive exercises are also available using  "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams, " Why I Miss the Midwest" by Michelle Liles, and "Praise Made of Water" by Nancy Willard to name a few of my favorites.  Any writer could use this volume once a week for a year and never run out of ideas. It is that good.

I love Ted Kooser. I love his poetry, his website, and how he has made poetry accessible to the people with his "American LIfe in Poetry" syndicated column featuring a poem a week by a wide variety of poets. His book The Poetry Home Repair Manual, Practical Advice for Beginning Poets is another guide I turn to often. The chapters on writing from memory and working with detail have reminded me often of new tips to try myself. He ends the book with a chapter entitled " Relax and Wait" which we often forget to do as we finish a draft of writing.

I will do future posts on other books on writing. Check the local library for these titles, or if you are in Moscow, the Bishop book has multiple copies available in our NIWP library in the IMTC.