Want to write a sonnet? Don’t want to write a sonnet, but you have to? Either way, our Sonnet Infographic will help you laugh and write your way through.
Fiction Friday: He Said, She Said
Last week I received my shiny, colorfully bird-laden copy of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction. Books like this don’t usually show up at my house: I’m a poet, through and through. But I’ve also had this little fling with fiction on the side since attending the Midwest Writers’ Conference, where I practically skipped out […]
Ordinary Genius: Book Club Announcement
You could say I’m playing around with writing a sonnet today, as long as your definition of “playing around” is broad enough to include tapping aimlessly on my desk to The Guess Who’s Bus Rider. Our Canadian columnist Matthew Kreider loaned me one of his famous Ticonderoga pencils this weekend. It keeps a terrific desktop 70s beat, […]
Laugh and Learn to Write Fiction
There’s a new book on the street. (And in the pink limo.) The Novelist, a novella that will teach you how to write fiction, even as you get lost in a story of one big challenge, an elusive cup of tea, and a ruminating poet’s attempt to break free. “Hilarious protagonist, ” says one reader. […]
Must-Have Infographic: Read a Poem Today
Buy a year of happy mornings today (and become a better writer). Every Day Poems, just $5.99 Want a Sonnet Infographic? Try Quatrain Wreck: On How to Write a Sonnet Infographic by Will Willingham. ________________ How to Read a Poem uses images like the mouse, the hive, the switch (from the Billy Collins poem)—to guide readers […]
The Anthologist: Motion
I found Paul Chowder at the Tip O’Neill building. He was in the passport office cajoling the bureaucrats into renewing his travel documents just days before his departure to Switzerland for some big international poetry doings because he didn’t realize he’d expired. I was there for my once-a-decade passport renewal even though I had no […]
The Anthologist: Pluck the Day
I scheduled a date with Paul Chowder on Friday. We were supposed to hang out and talk about Sara Teasdale. He’d been going on about how some poets spend too much time thinking about death, like going to a movie and just waiting for the credits, which my dad taught me are very interesting if you […]
The Anthologist: Conversation in a Laundromat
I moved upstairs to the kitchen to work. I don’t like the kitchen much. It reminds me of all the times I have to cook, and cooking is not something I enjoy. Sometimes when I cook, there’s a fire, and I’m not sure the fire extinguisher was recharged after the last one. It wasn’t my […]
My Life as a Cento
Cento (Lat. “patchwork”). A verse composition made up of lines selected from the work or works of some great poet(s) of the past. —The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry & Poetics Like most poets, I have a notebook. Mine is a chunky tablet, 5×7 inches, with a large spiral binding and two thick boards that serve […]
The Anthologist: Book Club Invitation
Paul Chowder is a lonely writer who would have an anthology of poetry to his credit, if he could just get the introduction written and submitted to his editor. It seems, however, that this self-proclaimed “study in failure” cannot. His longtime girlfriend has left him and he is alone in the barn, trying to write […]
Patchwork: A Story
Our theme for July is The Cento—a put-together poem, a patchwork if you will, of words from others. What follows is not a Cento and will not tell you what a Cento is, but we’re okay with that. We tell our writers to “be creative, ” and that’s what Karen Swallow Prior has been by […]
By Any Other Name
My interest in roses took a turn three years ago, however, when Sharon and I lost our home to a wildfire on the outskirts of Santa Barbara and temporarily rented a place in town near the old mission.
A Simple Rhyme ‘Changed My Life’: Interview with Virginia Poet Laureate Kelly Cherry
Interview with Virginia poet laureate Kelly Cherry.
Journey into Poetry: Megan Willome
After my mom died, I thought I’d never write another poem. Enter Susan Wooldridge’s book Poemcrazy.
Image-ine: Roses
Can you find a poem in this photo? If I were to find one, it might be in those hands, the blue shadows, or the three roses.
Hard Candy, Like Poems
Poetry can be hard. Hard to read and hard to write. But this doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. And enlightening at the same time. Kind of like candy for the mind.
Guy Kawasaki Says to Use Poetry in Business
Rhyming, according to Kawasaki, is serious business.
Journey into Poetry: Dave Malone
Get me at a cocktail party. Get me talking about writing poetry. Get me talking about what made the difference. Just a phone call.
It’s Here: 2 Cool Ways to Get Our Titles 1/2 Price!
To celebrate National Poetry Month, we’ve got a special offer for April only: Get a secret coupon for 50% off any TS Poetry title of your choice (unlimited copies—great for bookclubs or gifts!).
Angels: A Writer’s Contingency
Rilke also famously said, upon quitting therapy, that he did not want to chase away his demons lest his angels flee him too.