This is an excellent and practical guide for practicing poets. This is a beyond-the-beginners book that skips fluff and cheering for hands-on writing prompts that get the mind working and the pen rolling. ( )

Not all poetry prompts are created equal. Diane Lockward’s are some of my favorites. I love the way she observes the poems from which she gets her inspiration (often with a dash of her sly humor), and how she leaves no stone unturned in delivering to us a range of places to look (within and around us) for something to write about.

But The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop is much more than just prompts. It contains craft tips from established poets as well as explanations of how specific poems came to be written—the wisdom of fifty-six contemporary poets in all! On top of that, it has sample poems written for all but the bonus prompts, to give us an idea of how others tackled these prompts.

It’s poetry how-to plus the wisdom of one’s clan (poetry clan) in a 280-page volume.
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