Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words

This book reads like a conversation with a friend and gave insights I could relate to and creative exercises.

"Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life With Words" is a fitting title for Susan Wooldridge's delightful, liberating book on the writing of poems and the teaching of writing poetry. More than a poet, Susan Wooldridge is an amazing poetry teacher. Her book is full of fun and, for me, fruitful poetry exercises. Above all else, her book cultivates a sense of play in the writing of poems.In order to reach a "poem-drenched state of mind," Wooldridge advocates tapping into one's unconscious mind. To this end, Wooldridge recommends keeping a notebook by your bed to jot down details from your dreams before you forget them. I actually tried this, but my groggy morning-self kept forgetting to write about my dreams before they evaporated. What did work well for me, however was her suggestion of writing interesting words down on bits of paper, then picking handfuls of words out of a "wordpool" to sort into poems. Sometimes, the desire to be a good poet can be stifling. Wooldridge's free-spirited approach to poetry gave me license to write with a playful heart.Wooldridge's teaching philosophy is summarized quite well in her introduction: "in a safe, free setting anyone of any age can gather words, play with language and write poems." (xii) I love her non-elitist attitude. It is all too common for published poets and poetry critics to complain about the excessive amount of "talentless" amateur poets. I believe that anyone interested in writing poems should be encouraged to do so . . . and be given a copy of "Poemcrazy".

I love this book so much I read it every time I need inspiration to get my own creative juices flowing. An outstanding book for writers!Some of my favorite passages from the book:"Poems arrive. They hide in feelings and images, in weeds and delivery vans, daring us to notice and give them form with our words.""Dozens of swallows were lined up this morning like plump clothespins on the power lines.""The language and form of a poem creates a blue bubble I can float into the world as if my secrets are in an impenetrable container with boundaries, yet see-through like a bottle.""Too bad life is written in pen. If it were written in pencil we could erase our mistakes and try again."

This book changed my life. Within the first few lines, my creative mind began to salivate. It gave me permission to call myself a writer. It’s captivating and so creative! Part memoir, part writing manual, part muse. I have re-read it so many times, the pages are worn. It’s a beautiful and gentle guide towards writing. Such a treasure! It should be required reading in all schools. A treasure to foster creativity.

I thought there would be more technical training, but I really like it. It make poetry accessible to anyone. It inspired me to write more, which it what I was truly looking for. It's small and very practical. It focuses mostly of free verse, so it isn't an end all, but it is a great start.

Step into, out of & through your shadow into the Land of Words. Hear & listen to Susan's word love while she shows you how to create & love your own place/space of "words, scribbles, drawings, & pasted-in pictures."Delicious!

Loved this book! It's one of the best writing craft books I've read and the exercises found at the end of most chapters are excellent. This author really ignites fresh inspiration for the love of words and creativity. Highly recommend for all writers, not just poets.

Well, as one who has practiced and taught poetry, though this book offers a take on encouraging writing poetry, it isn't anything I would regard as a serious book about writing poetry. It is a series of exercises but I'm not sure the muscles that need strengthening are put to any real test. To tell you the truth, I fell asleep reading it. Want to learn how to write poetry? Read it. I suggest a very good poetry anthology. I suggest "The Poetry Anthology, 1912-1977, Sixty Years of America's Most Distinguished Verse Magazine," though today's Poetry Magazine is certainly not yesterday's "Poetry." So pick up the edition edited by Daryl Hine and Joseph Parisi, or read a book of poems by William Stafford or Bert Meyers or Sara Teasdale or Elizabeth Bishop or Josephine Miles perhaps, or maybe just good old Walt Whitman. Yours very sincerely, Nicholas Campbell, author of "Here Lies 'the Selected Poems of' Nicholas Campbell."

Lovely, informative, interesting, positive, funny book.

Really great book for anyone interested in writing or reading poetry. I was enthralled being a big poetry fan. Marvellous suggestions on how to write poems in the chapters.

A few months ago, I decided to read some books about writing poetry with the hope of improving mine. I had been writing on and off for years and had taken a pretty extensive workshop some years before but wanted to see what other help was out there. With that in mind, I came across the excellent AllPoetry website and a whole pile of books that promised to teach me how to be a better poet. Among the books were The Poetry Home Repair Manual, Creating Poetry, A Poetry Handbook, In the Palm of your Hand and poemcrazy.If you are reading this review then chances are that you want to become a better poet and could benefit from a comparison of the books listed above. Here is mine.A Poetry Handbook – I am glad I have this book in my life. It gives me Mary Oliver whose character seems to inspire on its own. I don't think I will be re-reading it any time soon but, looking back at some of the choices that I've made since I've read it, I can say that it has already changed my life in very concrete ways. The greatest lesson here is that poetry is a relationship and requires deep commitment. This book is a must.Creating Poetry – if this was the only resource for poetry-writing technique, it would be sufficient. However, it is downright boring compared to all the other books listed here. Maybe its great, but I didn't feel like reading most of it when I had so many more engaging books to choose from.In the palm of your hand – this is the book that I would recommend to the beginner. It goes over a lot of important technical territory in an engaging and entertaining way. There is a section on 'bad poetry' and another on 'revision' – all aspiring poets should read these. Also, the poems given as examples inspire.The Poetry Home Repair Manual – I learned several important technical ideas from this book. It is worth reading for those. That said, I didn't find most of the poems cited as examples to be to my taste. This book did not inspire me very much but I'm glad I read it.poemcrazy is the least technical but most inspiring of all the books listed. Despite also being the shortest, it is the only one that I am still reading and, in some parts, re-reading. The author is essentially trying to teach you to live in ways that are likely to result in the appearance of poetry in your life. And you know what? It actually works. You could spend a week or a month experimenting with each of the fifty-odd brief chapters. Unlike all the other books listed, this one is playful. I am absolutely happy and grateful to have it around.

A very inspiring book told by a poet who also teaches and encourages people of all ages to use the power of words to further their life and their creativity.

I sat down and read this book right through. It is more an inspirational book on writing poetry rather than how to go about it. But I highly recommend it.