Need help getting started? Check out (literally) this selection of books about writing poetry available in the SMCM Library collection!
Want more? Try searching poetry AND (creative writing OR authorship) OR poetics using the search for words in… subject dropdown option on the search page in the St. Mary’s Catalog.
Writing Poetry Books
How poems think by Reginald Gibbons. Ebook
Poem-making: ways to begin writing poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston. Call number: LB 1576 .L578 1991
Today you are my favorite poet: writing poems with teenagers by Geof Hewitt. Call number: PN 1101 .H46 1998
Helping students learn to write poetry: an idea book for poets of all ages by Joyce C. Bumgardner. Call number: LB 1576 .B889 1997
Next word, better word: the craft of writing poetry by Stephen Dobyns. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .D63 2011
The poetry home repair manual: practical advice for beginning poets by Ted Kooser. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .K66 2005
Twentieth-century American poetics: poets on the art of poetry edited by Dana Gioia, David Mason, and Meg Schoerke with D.C. Stone. Call number: PS 323 .5 .T87 2004
Thirteen ways of looking for a poem: a guide to writing poetry by Wendy Bishop. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .B58 2000
Blue notes: essays, interviews, and commentaries by Yusef Komunyakaa; edited by Radiclani Clytus. Call number: PS 3561 .O455 .Z463 2000
Rules for the dance: a handbook for writing and reading metrical verse by Mary Oliver. Call number: PE 1505 .O37 1998
Trying to say it: outlooks and insights on how poems happen by Philip Booth. Call number: PS 3503 .O532 .Z475 1996
Poemcrazy: freeing your life with words by Susan G. Wooldridge. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .W66 1996
A poetry handbook by Mary Oliver. Call number: PE .1505 .O35 1994
Writing poems by Peter Sansom. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .S36 1994
Getting the knack: 20 poetry writing exercises by Stephen Dunning and William Stafford. Call number: PN 1059 .A9 .D86 1992
Poem-making: ways to begin writing poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston. Call number: LB 1576 .L578 1991
Writing light verse and prose humor by Richard Armour. Call number: PN 1042 .A7 1971
The sounds of poetry: a brief guide by Robert Pinsky. Call number: PN 4151 .P55 1998