Not a Book Report
My bookcase has two shelves of books by single poets, (Akmatova – Zonatelli), one shelf of anthologies, two shelves of resources, one of biographies, and a shelf of children’s poetry.
There are six other large bookcases in the house, but this one is MINE. These books are my friends. Some of them came from an overseer’s house in Virginia. My father was raised with these leather-bound treasures.
I call authors by their first names. Poet, Robert Bly, admits to taking books off his shelves and kissing them. I hold them close and give them hugs. Some of these books were texts for my MFA program. One semester I took two classes and read twenty-three books. I was in Heaven! I have poetry dictionaries, “How To” books, The Discovery of Poetry, etc. A list of them is included at the end of this column.
This is not a book report, but a book discovery. I want to share a recent finding about writing. This book is not about poetry. It is not written by a poet.
Two weeks ago I attended a Y/A writing seminar at UNCA. I just had a Y/A trilogy accepted by 2nd Wind, a North Carolina press. I’m revising Book three, and thought I’d enjoy an afternoon meeting writers in the Y/A genre. A text recommended by Megan Shepherd, facilitator, was Stephen King’s, On Writing. It is a memoir on craft, published in 2000. Maybe you’ve already read it.
I liked this book because Stephen King makes me laugh, because he is irreverent, because he’s had a “real” life, because he worked in a mill, because he’s still married, because he loves the sound of words like I do, and because there is a section in his book titled, “Toolbox.”
I have a toolbox too. My hammer, pliers, screwdrivers, and scissors are decorated pink and purple, with beads and glitter. I use my toolbox in schools and adult writing classes. These tools work. So do words. Tools on Stephen King’s top shelf are vocabulary (the bread of writing) and grammar. He is on my side in regard to adverbs. He writes, “The adverb is not your friend.”
Other advice? Make your reader a sensory participant in your writing. He includes a line from Tennyson’s “The Princess.”
“The moan of doves in immemorial elms
and murmurings of innumerable bees.”
The alliteration tool’s in use here, but I can also hear these words.
He also suggests writers read. Read. Read. Write. Write. Write. Turn off the TV. Turn off the phone. Read at the dinner table. (Don’t tell my mother!)
Stephen King leans on intuition. His books are based on situations, rather than story. After I read King’s book, I realized that my trilogy is based on situation. The reason I wrote three books is because I wanted to find out what happens to the girls in my first book. I am fond of them. This is not unlike poetry. As I read my poetry, I realize there are ‘situations’ in many of them. My most recent poem is about appearing in print, a ‘situation’ for which I am full of gratitude.
This is not a book report. It is a discovery. Send your pages into the submittable unknown. Read. Write. Send them out like children on their first day of school.
Resources
Chris Baldick, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
John Drury, The Poetry Dictionary
John Fox, Finding What You Didn’t Lose
Geof Hewitt, Today You Are My Favorite Poet
Edward Hirsch, How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love With Poetry
Paul Janeczko, How To Write Poetry (Scholastic Guides)
Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Ted Kooser, The Poetry Home Repair Manual
Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Frances Mayes, The Discovery of Poetry
Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook
Mary Oliver, Blue Pastures
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Strunk and White, The Elements of Style
Brenda Ueland, If You Want to Write
Eudora Welty, One Writer’s Beginnings
William Zinsser, On Writing Well
If You Go: Carol Bjorlie will perform at the Artisan cafe on June 19 and 26 at 7 p.m. The Artisan Cafe and Coffee House is located at 1390 Sand Hill Rd., Candler. Phone (828) 665-3800.