The best known haiku attribute — the 17-syllable count and 5-7-5 rhythm — turns out to be its least valid attribute. Christopher Patchel explores Why Haiku.
Laugh and Learn to Write Fiction
There’s a new book on the street. (And in the pink limo.) The Novelist, a novella that will teach you how to write fiction, even as you get lost in a story of one big challenge, an elusive cup of tea, and a ruminating poet’s attempt to break free. “Hilarious protagonist, ” says one reader. […]
The Silence and Violence of Rain
Few things sneak past my Ozark grandmother—and that includes the wonder, mischief, and brutality of Mother Nature. Born in 1924, Granny Hollis remembers horse and wagon (I kid you not) that her father drove. Down gravel roads, he maneuvered the horses to carry wife and children to a small town, not much more than a […]
Journey into Poetry: Matthew Kreider
So much of life depends upon the lighting. Under the fluorescent bulbs of Grade 9 English, I turned to page 646, or something like that, and discovered poetry. Unit VII probably had a catchy and alliterative title, but I don’t remember it. I remember seeing bold-faced words, eerie line breaks (though I didn’t know the […]
Resolving the Dandelion Poet
As a poem begins to take form, the poet walks a fine line of crafting and allowing the poem to craft itself.
My Last Villanelle
I admire a well-executed villanelle in the same way I admire a Baroque Tromp-l’oeil ceiling
Poetry Memorization: Write it on the Heart, Says Julia Kasdorf
I tell them committing a poem is a form of self love, like buying yourself a gift, only better.
What is Poetry: Last Word (at least for now)
What is poetry? A shot in some dark, a walk in some woods, a maker’s feel for the material at hand, an intuition of what is needed?
What is Poetry: Falling in Love, 1
The first step towards falling in love, of course, is the cultivation of friendship. And so I have to convince my students that poetry—and the poets who write them—are friends worth getting to know.
Glass Slipper Sonnets
Does a writing a sonnet feel like an ill fit? This fun glass slipper essay will make it (a little) easier.