Few books make my, "Do not give away list." The highest rating I can give. Moyer's "Fooling with Words", make the cut as a poets guide to writing and living.
The book which involves a series of interviews with 11 poets at the Dodge Poetry festival would make a great gift or even a textbook in an Intro to Poetry class.
Each chapter, one for each poet overflows with advice and learning from some of the top masters of 20th Century American poets.
Based on who spoke at the festival some voices feel underrepresented. The age of the poets, many who lived lives three times over, also means fresh voices of Spoken Word and Hip Hop did not make the stage. Cervantes, Lamkin, Garrison, Geok-Lin Lim create space for critical voices but the book still feels quite white.
Still lessons on writing poetry leap from every page as the poets help me find meaning in the mundane.
I highly recommend this book. Instead of summarizing each chapter I took snippets of thoughts and synthesized found poems.
Jane Hirshfield (2) only poet to get two must mean the next poet I should study
By Bill Moyers
clings to
stalks of past
glory, will
water vessels
play jazz
on flower heads
maybe bathing in Buddha' beauty?
Did God turn her back or did we
prune with a
hubris leaving
hydrangeas
to sing with
no voice?
#poemsofpresence