Thanks a lot!  I started reading your book
On Poetry – Oh, what I’ve been missing!
But I knew I should take a second look
after many years I had been dissing
the need to take my work more seriously –
you have many excellent things to say
and in a way not imperiously.

I must begin to look without delay,
following on my many disasters,
at forms employed by the artful masters
who knew what they were doing when they wrote.

Of Maxwell’s many lines in brief I’ll quote:
“Line break is all you’ve got” on the white page
to separate your poem from your prose –
the time, the beat, the rhythm of the stage.

A poet yet in time I’ll be, who knows?

Portland, Oregon – April 22, 2016

This wreck of a rhyming pentameter poem is “inspired” by beginning to read Glyn Maxwell’s book On Poetry published in 2012, Oberon Books. It’s a good choice to begin my more careful look at the meaning of poetry, how to read and write it.  I recommend it.  One problem is that, as I look at poetic forms and how poetry works, I’m more challenged in actually writing, worried that I’m not “getting the form” correct.  Well, there’s a balance thing I need to live with as I try to learn some things.

Creativity and learning need each other.

I have been creating lately and thankfully, but I haven’t been learning, at least in the poetic sphere, and I now understand that I need to learn more about this essential craft – how others write poetry and think about it.  While I trust my instincts, the wisdom and experiences of others will inform my growth as a poet and elevate the quality of my work.

I began to write as a senior in high school, inspired by Mrs. Evans and her teaching us about poetry and poetic forms. So, I’ve long known about formal classic methods, such as rhyming iambic pentameter, but I rarely paid attention to them in the years since. The question is, should I? Should I pay more attention to and practice formal poetic methods? Well, that is what I am now exploring. There are, of course, many poetic forms, classic and modern, and the discernment of what forms will work for me could take some time. What I know is that I am not too old to learn and the continuing search for knowledge within the creative life is important.

There are many voices expressing their thoughts on what they believe makes for good poetry. How do I know who to listen to? Well, I guess I’ll just explore the field a bit and see what comes of it. For those of you who have read my work, liked some of it, and maybe are following, I want to let you know I appreciate you and hope my explorations will help me to be a better poet in the future. Knowing that even a few people are interested in reading my work is very exhilarating to me.  I welcome your thoughts on the matter.  Again – my thanks! Tom

Portland, Oregon – April 14, 2016