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About Tania Runyan

Tania Runyan lives in Lindenhurst, Illinois, a sort-of suburb, sort-of small town, where the deer and the minivans play. She's a 2011 NEA fellow and mama to four poetry books—A Thousand Vessels, Simple Weight, Delicious Air, and What Will Soon Take Place—and three (much cuter and noisier) human children. Tania is also the author of five non-fiction books—Making Peace with Paradise, How To Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, How to Write a Form Poem, and How to Write a College Application Essay. Visit her at TaniaRunyan.com

Flowers of California: California Poppy

By Tania Runyan 2 Comments

california poppy

Tania Runyan writes a pantoum, a winding homage to the cups of sun and gold known as the California poppy in her Flowers of California series.

Filed Under: Blog, California, Flower Poems, Flowers of California, Pantoum, Pantoum Poems, poetry prompt

Flowers of California: Lily of the Nile

By Tania Runyan 5 Comments

purple lily of the nile

After a lifetime of taking the unassuming flower for granted, Tania Runyan pens a love letter to lily of the Nile.

Filed Under: Blog, California, Flower Poems, Flowers of California, poetry prompt

Flowers of California: Crape Myrtle

By Tania Runyan 6 Comments

crepe myrtle invisibility of seasons

California’s papery crape myrtle blooms played companion to Tania Runyan as a budding writer in her back yard.

Filed Under: Blog, California, Flower Poems, Flowers of California

Clarisse McClellan, The Karate Kid, and (Finally) Reading Fahrenheit 451

By Tania Runyan 1 Comment

Waves rushing on beach Fahrenheit 451

Tania Runyan reflects on The Karate Kid and writes a letter to Clarisse McClellan from Fahrenheit 451.

Filed Under: Blog, English Teaching Resources, Fahrenheit 451, poetry prompt

Triolet, Rondel, and Rondelet: Variation is the Spice of Life

By Tania Runyan 2 Comments

Yant Flat at sunset rondeau poetry form

Author Tania Runyan played with the prompts in ‘How to Write a Form Poem’ and wrote a triolet, rondel & rondelet in 1 day. Difficult, but fun!

Filed Under: Blog, How to Write a Form Poem, poetry prompt

Poet-a-Day: Meet Christopher Patchel

By Tania Runyan 4 Comments

Philippines sunset-old books poem

What purposes does the art form of haiku serve best? Christopher Patchel considers this question, with the perspective of a graphic designer.

Filed Under: Blog, Haiku Poems, How to Write a Form Poem, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources

Poet-a-Day: Meet Rick Maxson

By Tania Runyan 5 Comments

Richard Maxson

When Rick Maxson heard his wife singing, in a rare moment of freedom from pain, it needed a poem to hold his wonder. It needed a rondeau.

Filed Under: Blog, How to Write a Form Poem, Music Poems, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources, Rondeau

Poet-a-Day: Meet Monica Sharman

By Tania Runyan 2 Comments

Colorado River Horse Shoe Bend Arizona Canyon Pain Poem

What poem do you really need to write, but can’t? The hiddenness of the acrostic might be just your poetic ticket. It was for Monica Sharman.

Filed Under: Acrostics, Blog, How to Write a Form Poem, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources

Poet-a-Day: Meet Megan Willome

By Tania Runyan 2 Comments

Red Poppies At Mile 37 poem

When you’re going round in grief, the rondeau might be your poetic form. Megan Willome found hers at mile 37.

Filed Under: Blog, How to Write a Form Poem, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources, Rondeau

Poet-a-Day: Meet John Drury

By Tania Runyan Leave a Comment

Rockville Maryland Twinbrook Maple in Rain-John Drury Ghazal

What are the challenges and opportunities of the ghazal? John Drury explores the answers with you, in the rain…

Filed Under: Blog, Ghazal Poems, How to Write a Form Poem, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources

Poet-a-Day: Meet Aaron Brown

By Tania Runyan Leave a Comment

N'Djamena, Chad River Chari-Aaron Brown ghazal

Grief has the quailty of a kaleidoscope. So does the ghazal poem form. Aaron Brown mourns, through the ghazal, his war-torn city in Chad.

Filed Under: Blog, Ghazal Poems, How to Write a Form Poem, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources

Poet-a-Day: Meet Sandra Heska King

By Tania Runyan 11 Comments

Black cap gull sea Villanelle poem

Prompted to write a villanelle, Sandra Heska King created a container for sorrow and endings. You could try it, too.

Filed Under: Blog, How to Write a Form Poem, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources, Villanelles

Poet-a-Day: Meet Claire Bateman

By Tania Runyan 2 Comments

Corolla petals-Corolla flower found poem Claire Bateman

What can you find in a Field Guide? Maybe a poem with a corolla, breaking open. Claire Bateman did.

Filed Under: Blog, Found Poems, How to Write a Form Poem, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources

Poet-a-Day: Meet Benjamin Myers

By Tania Runyan 3 Comments

Bavaria Germany Trees and Water-Calliope Muse Poem

It’s difficult to tell a story with a sestina. And that’s exactly why Benjamin Myers explored a Muse story with this hard-to-hold form.

Filed Under: Blog, How to Write a Form Poem, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources, Sestina

Poet-a-Day: Meet John Poch

By Tania Runyan 1 Comment

Cape Kiwanda Oregon seascape Echo and Narcissus villanelle

What two things must your villanelle have—to make it minimally successful? Find out in this Echo and Narcissus poem from poet John Poch!

Filed Under: Blog, How to Write a Form Poem, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources, Villanelles

Poet-a-Day: Meet Jill Baumgaertner

By Tania Runyan Leave a Comment

rolling hills and lake at Keswick and Derwent Water

The repetitive rural images of the Lake District provided inspiration for Jill Baumgaertner’s “Cumbria Pantoum.” What will inspire yours?

Filed Under: Blog, English Teaching Resources, Pantoum, Pantoum Poems, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources

Poet-a-Day: Meet Todd C. Truffin

By Tania Runyan 3 Comments

Camper in desert

A soccer coach inspiring a villanelle? It could happen. (Indeed, it did, in this villanelle from Todd C. Truffin.)

Filed Under: Blog, English Teaching Resources, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources, Villanelles

Poet-a-Day: Meet Gabriel Spera

By Tania Runyan Leave a Comment

Daisy White Petals Love Sonnet

Can a sonnet be funny? (Should it be, especially if a household “disaster” is in progress?) Gabriel Spera chose amusement…

Filed Under: Blog, How to Write a Form Poem, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources, Sonnets

The Great Gatsby Book Club: Chapters 7-9—Borne Back Ceaselessly Into the Past

By Tania Runyan 2 Comments

old green motor boat on shore

In the final installment of our The Great Gatsby book club, Tania Runyan explores what it means to be “borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Filed Under: Blog, book club, English Teaching Resources, Patron Only, The Great Gatsby

Poet-a-Day: Meet Janet Aalfs

By Tania Runyan 1 Comment

Red trumpet flower-Ode to a Lost Sweater red button poem

A lost red button calls out to become an ode for a wider memory in Janet Aalfs’ touching poem about her mother and more.

Filed Under: Blog, How to Write a Form Poem, Ode Poems, Poet-a-Day, poetry teaching resources

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