The books on this list are excellent resources for experienced and beginning writers alike. Most listed here can be read from beginning to end, dipped into for answers to specific questions, or on a search for inspiration when the well’s gone seemingly dry.

In these books you will find advice, explanations, and writing prompts from great writers. Some are compilations of essays and activities from a wide range of poets. You will also discover how writers you admire have been influenced by others.

As time goes on we will add more books to this list and will create another that highlights a variety of guides to writing creative non-fiction.

Addonizio, Kim. Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within. NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2009. “Guide” is the perfect word for this book. Addonizio takes us by the hand and he shows us how to get started with writing poetry, whether we have years of experience or have never attempted to make a poem and offers a multitude of devices for going deeper and deeper into our writing lives.

Addonizio, Kim and Dorianne Laux. The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry. NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1997. Most writers of poetry we know cherish this book and believe it to be indispensable to anyone venturing into poetry. Laux and Addonizio provide “user-friendly” advice for finding subjects, major elements of craft, problems such as writer’s block, and publishing. They also offer exercises for jumping right into a poem, along with helpful resources.

Behn, Robin and Chase Twichell. The Practice of Poetry. NY: Harper, 2001. Exercises, exercises, exercises! Even accomplished writers value exercises, a great way to get a poem going. In this book are writing exercises from many well-known poets such as Rita Dove, David St. John, Edward Hirsch and Alicia Ostriker.

Bly, Robert. Leaping Poetry: An Idea with Poems and Translations. Pittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh Press, 1975. Many of us find it difficult to jump between the conscious and the unconscious mind, which is essential to creative writing. We can remain stuck in the “known mind.” Bly’s examples and advice help us to rise above the limitations placed on us by our culture.

Dawes, Kwame. Ed. When the Rewards Can Be So Great: Essays on Writing & the Writing Life. Forest Grove, OR: Pacific University Press, 2016. For twenty days a year teachers and students in the Pacific University MFA program gather together and form a community of “people trying to write well.” The craft talks given by faculty are brilliant, inspiring and often deeply personal. This collection contains essays by gifted writers in a variety of genres, based on some of their talks over the last few years. They offer deep wisdom, practical advice and a window into the struggles of the working artist.

Dobyns, Stephen. Best Words, Best Order. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003. Without diminishing the mysterious qualities that draw us to poetry, Dobyns writes clearly and concisely about the art of writing poems.

Doty, Mark. The Art of Description. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2010. If you don’t already believe that image is essential to the craft of poetry, Mark Doty will likely convince you. In this book, one of many in Graywolf Press’s “Art of” series, Doty’s brilliant commentaries on the importance of description are presented in relation to other elements of craft. For example, a section on “sonic texture,” or the “musicality of poetry,” illustrates how all our senses should come into play when we create poems.

Hirsch, Edward. A Poet’s Glossary. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. Maybe you would like to look up a familiar term, such as metaphor, to discover what it really means. Maybe you would like to discover what image has to do with imagination. Or perhaps you’d like to learn what an unfamiliar poetic term, such as “hendecasyllabics” or “hendiadys,” means. The glossary is huge, comprehensive, and because Hirsch put into it so much of his life and experience as a poet, never dull.

Hirshfield, Jane. Nine Gates. New York: Harper Perennial, 1997. Not surprisingly, Jane Hirshfield’s prose is poetic, and a joy to read. These essays inspire our writing by helping us to understand, in a philosophical way, the poetic tradition we become part of the minute we decide to be poets.

Hoagland, Tony. Real Sofistikashun. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2006. As evidenced by the title, Tony Hoagland does not adopt a didactic tone in these essays on poetry and craft. His tone is conversational, and as edifying as his commentaries on poems, poets, historical movements, and craft points are.  The writing is anything but preachy. Hoagland gives us much to think about and much to enhance our reading and writing of poetry.

Hugo, Richard. The Triggering Town. New York: W.W. Norton, 1979. The first two chapters of this book are vital with respect to discovery. Hugo uses the notion of the triggering town to initiate a topic and then go beyond simple communication.  What we think we’re writing about and what we come to discover we’re really writing about are not the same.

Kowit, Steve. In the Palm of your Hand: The Portable Poet’s Workshop. Thomaston, ME: Tilbury House Publishers, 2003. This book is just what the title says. Anyone should be able to pick it up and conduct her own workshop, even if it is just you, the writer, and Steve Kowit’s book in attendance. Kowit was a great teacher and managed to capture the spirit of his encouraging style in this guide to writing poetry.  The introduction by Dorianne Laux (Steve Kowit was her first teacher) is itself a masterpiece.

Lockward, Diane. The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop. Nicholasville, KY: Wind Publications, 2013. The layout of Lockward’s book makes it possible to generate poems just by picking it up and turning to any page. Many extraordinary poet-teachers, including two of our favorites— Dorianne Laux and Ellen Bass—contributed to this collection. Each entry consists of a craft tip, poem, prompt, and sample poems written by students who tried the prompt.

Longenbach, James. The Art of the Poetic Line. St. Paul: Graywolf Press, 2008. As our beloved teacher Joseph Millar has said, the line is what we have in poetry; it is the thing that distinguishes our art form. Logenbach helps us to see the many ways in which the poetic line functions sonically, as a “way of organizing the sound of language.” For many beginning poets, considerations of the line can be the best way to focus on revision. Logenbach’s book is helpful as a teaching tool and a way to avoid becoming overwhelmed by trying to think about every aspect of poetry all at the same time.

Rosen, Kim. Saved by a Poem. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2009. While this is a book about the power of reading poetry, there is much here to help writers, too. The act of fully embracing poems, of taking them into our minds and bodies, can have profound effects on our writing. Rosen shows us how.

Ruefle, Mary. Madness, Rack, and Honey: Collected Lectures. Seattle: Wave Books, 2012. Mary Ruefle’s lectures to graduate poetry students are deep, philosophical, inspiring, practical, moving, funny, and wise. As lofty as the ideas she presents may be, her voice never loses its consistently humble and irreverent tone. Reading these pieces is like listening to a brilliant friend; you never want her to stop talking.

Wiggerman, Scott and David Meischen. Wingbeats: Exercises & Practice in Poetry. Austin: Dos Gatos Press, 2011. This is another book that includes a multitude of writing exercises from poets who happen to be excellent teachers. Some exercises will appeal to beginning writers and others to those with more experience.
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