Customer Reviews
Extremely useful for English writers too - By: Waterbaby, 16 Apr 2004 
Very often, American books of this type have less to offer writers workingin the UK. Many have a breathless, self-help tone & style, & (naturally) they use the work of great American writers as a starting point. This can be slightly disorientating & unproductive. Here, though, is a rigorously practical book which includes many very useful, straightforward exercises suited equally to writing alone or generating new ideasin a workshop. It does make reference to some American writers who are hard to find over here, but this is not usually an obstacle as the description of each exercise is clear enough to explain what is intended. It should help to take your workin new directions & give you a kick-start if you arein the doldrums.
Wonderful. Very helpful. - By: , 02 Nov 1998 
I found this book to be very helpfulin guiding me to use my writing skills, as well as helping me to open my mind & extract deeper, truer, feelings & thoughts.
A cornucopia of exercises from poets we read and respect - By: , 26 Aug 1998 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, & lead the reader into mental places they might never have thought to go. The results of the exercises always suprise the reader, & 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 & 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 & Letters to a Young Poet from Rilke. Read this book, but don't just read it--livein it, sip from it, allow it to lead you where you may not know you need to go. You will be better for it, bothin your writing &in your spirit.
These exercises are terrific! - By: , 03 Apr 1998 They tunnel into the imagination, from dark places to inner & outer journeys. They include exercises for several poetic forms I hadn't discovered. The group exercises, with a little finagling, can be used for lone desperado writers. I'm definitely hooked.
