Listed in the Sept/Oct 2022 Poets & Writers as one of twelve recommended craft books
Named a Best Book for Writers by Poets & Writers Every chapter presents ideas so clearly that even those dabbling in poetry will not find it hard to follow. The process is rendered transparent, like going backstage, watching professional actors remove their make-up, step into and out of characters. The book also progresses from the more accessible concepts to more complex ones, so the reader who feels they need to catch up might tackle the book in stages.
A must-have for libraries, poetry teachers, and workshop leaders; an excellent library addition for any poet. --Miriam Calleja Sage Cigarette The Strategic Poet is a worthwhile, high-quality book containing a wide array of information, teaching prompts, styles, and poems, all of which should educate and delight its readers as it helps them hone their craft. The contents are universally insightful, helpful, and informative. The book lives up to its title and is an excellent source of knowledge and is impeccably edited and organized. —Claire Hamner Matturro Compulsive Reader If you are going to read just one craft book on poetry, The Strategic Poet is the most thorough and easiest to follow that I’ve read. --Lara Lillibridge Mom Egg Review [Lockward is] teaching us how to let every poem we read teach us the thematic, rhetorical, and musical moves a poet can make. —Deborah Bacharach Heavy Feather Review The Strategic Poet: Honing the Craft is organized into thirteen sections, each one devoted to a specific poetic strategy: Descriptive Details, Diction, Imagery, Sound Devices, Repetition, 5 sections on Figurative Language, Syntax, Sonnet, and Odd Forms. Each section includes a Craft Talk, Model Poems with analysis, Prompts, and Sample Poems written to the prompts. One Model Poem in each section is followed by a Commentary from the poet who wrote the poem. Each section ends with three Bonus Prompts. Contributors include 114 of our best contemporary poets. This book is suitable for use by poets working independently, by poets in writing groups, and by teachers in the classroom. Available at Amazon B&N Terrapin Bookstore |
Named a Best Book for Writers
by Poets & Writers This is practical, not ethereal, wisdom, and, therefore, one of the best books of tools out there. And, of course, with wonderful, delicious poems—otherwise, what’s it all about, anyway?
—Grace Cavalieri, Poet Laureate of Maryland Lockward expertly organizes knowledge, ideas, and experiences of 113 disparate poets, and tightly melds together their work and advice. Sharing is the key word here and the generosity of the contributing poets is nothing short of breathtaking. Indeed, magnanimity is the cornerstone of this book. —Barbara Ellen Sorensen Mom Egg Review Available at Amazon B&N Terrapin Bookstore |
Named a Best Book for Writers
by Poets & Writers If the muscles and bones of this collection The Crafty Poet II: A Portable Workshop are the tangible, learnable, practicable skills poets use to write and revise their work, its heart and blood is this prescription, that we should not lose sight of the flame, the sting, the pulse that impels us to write. The poem is often smarter than the poet; it knows how and what it wants to say.
—Grace Gardner Mom Egg Review Available at Amazon B&N Terrapin Bookstore |
Named a Best Book for Writers
by Poets & Writers Reading through this book, I find myself torn by competing desires: to linger over many of the poems, and to rush to my desk to try the prompts. A book that inspires me to do more than is possible—what a good book that is. I’m glad The Crafty Poet found its way to my hands, and I’m looking forward to leafing through my notebook in a year or so, counting up the poems that owe their conception to this book.
—Lynn Domina Review a Week Available at Amazon B&N Terrapin Bookstore |