Poetry Exercise Books

I use poetry exercise books to spark new writing and improve my forms. My current favorites are A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver and The Making of a Poem (A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms) by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland.

This anthology has a rich collection of verse-form examples. The forms in this book are examples of verses and meter. This book has helped me to understand forms and inspired me to write poetry. It’s one of my best references for form. I am inspired by form and enjoy writing from the examples of others who have successfully written blank verse. Poetry is really about the precision of thoughts and emotions; forms create the meaning of it. You can have beautiful words, but if they are not organized, it’s just dribble.

This handy guide covers all the essentials. It somehow never gets old, even though I have read it many times. The book covers lines, rhymes, reading poetry, and such topics that make poetry what it is. Poetry can be relearned every time you write it. Inspired by the simplicity of the advice, it has fed my writing. I am confident that my poetry grows because I am open-minded and review the elementary basis repeatedly, allowing it to come naturally to me. I am striving to understand poetry technically to its fullest extent.