Synopsis
Literary Nonfiction. Poetics. Writing Reference. WINGBEATS: EXERCISES AND PRACTICE IN POETRY is an exciting collection of exercises by fifty-eight wonderfully diverse teaching poets both in (Oliver de la Paz, Ravi Shankar, Patricia Smith) and out (Ellen Bass, Robert McDowell, Naomi Shihab Nye) of academia. In seven chapters, ranging from "Springboards to Imagination" to "Chancing the Accidental" to "Complicating the Poem," each exercise includes not only clear step-by-step instructions, but numerous poems that exemplify the successful completion of the exercise, some by the authors of the exercises, some by their students. WINGBEATS' exercises incorporate numerous approaches: working in pairs and/or groups, incorporating research and/or the Internet, writing outdoors, and others, all easily found in the book's unique Alternate Table of Contents. Of course, traditional poetic techniques covering metaphor, persona, forms, and revision are also included. WINGBEATS, which poet Cole Swensen calls "indispensable," belongs in every poet's library.
Contributors: Rosa Alcalá, Wendy Barker, Ellen Bass, Tara Betts, Catherine Bowman, Susan Briante, Sharon Bridgforth, Nathan Brown, Jenny Browne, Andrea Hollander Budy, Lisa D. Chavez, Alison T. Cimino, Cathryn Cofell, Sarah Cortez, Bruce Covey, Oliver de la Paz, Lori Desrosiers, Cyra S. Dumitru, Blas Falconer, Annie Finch, Gretchen Fletcher, Madelyn Garner, Barbara Hamby, Carol Hamilton, Penny Harter, Kurt Heinzelman, Jane Hilberry, Karla Huston, David Kirby, Laurie Kutchins, Ellaraine Lockie, Ed Madden, Anne McCrady, Robert McDowell, Ray McManus, David Meischen, Harryette Mullen, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Hoa Nguyen, Naomi Shihab Nye, Katherine Durham Oldmixon, Kathleen Peirce, Georgia A. Popoff, Patty Seyburn, Ravi Shankar, Shoshauna Shy, Patricia Smith, Jessamyn Johnston Smyth, Bruce Snider, Lisa Russ Spaar, Susan Terris, Lewis Turco, Andrea L. Watson, Afaa Michael Weaver, William Wenthe, Scott Wiggerman, Abe Louise Young, and Matthew Zapruder.
"WINGBEATS is a fabulous toolbox of innovative and practical ideas that literally every teacher of poetry workshops and at every level, from elementary poets-in-the-schools through the graduate MFA, will find indispensable. Covering a vast range from image to sound to form, the exercises are all concrete and clearly presented—a marvelous way to mine the imaginations and experiences of today's most dynamic poets. Invaluable!"—Cole Swensen
"I opened WINGBEATS—and fell in headfirst, caught in the feathers of the creative impulse. WINGBEATS proves that poetry matters, that writing is an experimental discovery process, that there are many avenues to success, that writing poems is a gift we can all claim. The wealth of enabling nudges by the poets of WINGBEATS—who share their energy, wisdom, and examples—opens the door wide to our creative Selves. No teacher, no aspiring poet, should be without the gentle guidance of this book."—Gabriele Rico
About the Author
Scott Wiggerman is the author of two books of poetry, Vegetables and Other Relationships (Plain View Press, 2000) and Presence (Pecan Grove Press, 2011). Recent publications with poems by Wiggerman include Switched-on Gutenberg, BorderSenses, Poemeleon, Broad River Review, Boxcar Poetry Review, and Southwestern American Literature. Wiggerman has edited several anthologies and books, including Big Land, Big Sky, Big Hair. A frequent workshop instructor, he is lead editor of Dos Gatos Press, publisher of the annual Texas Poetry Calendar, now in its fourteenth year.David Meischen has been writing poetry and teaching the writing of poetry for twenty-five years. He was the Master Teacher in English for UTeach–Liberal Arts, the teacher preparation program in the College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas, Austin, 2002–2006. He has had poems in The Southern Review, Southern Poetry Review, Borderlands, Cider Press Review, and other journals, as well as Two Southwests (Virtual Artists Collective, 2008), which features poets from the southwest of China and the United States. Meischen is a co-founder and Managing Editor of Dos Gatos Press.
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