On Becoming a Poet: 25 Original Essays

Susan B. Terris, Editor. Sandy McIntosh, Series Editor

Smashingly good! In the old days, it would have been one of those books that an entire generation of young poets eagerly snatched for their shelf—I so hope it can still do that now. — Jane Hirshfield

Selected by The Writer’s Bookshelf, Poets & Writers Magazine. Starred Review, Publishers Weekly

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The Inventor: A Poet’s Transcolonial Autobiography

Eileen R. Tabios

The Inventor is as unique as Tabios’ poetic inventions. She is an icon of how to live an artistic, ethical, beautiful life with poetry, but not necessarily words, at its center.
—Grace Talusan, Lecturer in the Nonfiction Writing Program, Brown University

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The Birth of The Best

David Lehman

Every September, a new edition of The Best American Poetry appears, quickening pulses, provoking arguments. From one year to the next, the editor’s name on the cover is different, as is the cover art. The series editor is the one constant. It is the title David Lehman has held since the inaugural volume in 1988.

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Creativity: Where Poems Begin

Mary Mackey

In this brilliantly written, profound, deeply personal examination of how creative ideas have come to her, award-winning poet and New York Times best-selling novelist Mary Mackey looks at the origins of inspiration. “Her quest makes Creativity a book for anyone who wants to understand how bursts of insight come not only to poets and writers but to all of us.” —Mara Lynn Keller

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Sandy McIntosh

You need a Plan B if you want to put food on the table, wear shoes without holes in the soles, and stop living with roommates before you turn sixty.  “PLAN B: is a wonderful book, an important book, a book aspiring writers of fiction and poetry should read.” —David Lehman, Editor, The Oxford Book of American Poetry. 

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Craft: A Memoir

Tony Trigilio

Whether discussing traditional or unconventional craft elements, each essay pivots on the idea that the most effective way to learn one’s own craft is through storytelling rather than the linear, business-memo pragmatism of how-to handbooks.

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Where Did Poetry Come From

Geoffrey O’Brien

From nursery rhymes and television theme songs, show tunes and advertising jingles, Classic Comics and Bible verses, to first meetings with the poetry of Stevenson, Poe, Coleridge, Ginsberg, and others, it tracks not final assessments but a description of the unexpected revelations that began to convey how poetry “made its presence known before it had been given a name.” 

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