Book Review - The Poetry Reader's Toolkit

Marc Polonsky clearly loves poetry and wants you to join him in his enthusiasm.

Available in student and instructors versions, the Toolkit provides an excellent introduction to the complex world of contemporary poetry. Along with sound instruction about the tools of poetry, Mr. Polonsky takes the time to cover the emotions, tone, and wholistic view of poems.

As a relative newcomer to serious poetry, I found the book to be invaluable in explaining basic concepts. It is definitely geared to the beginner.

My only issue is with the over-enthusiatic use of italics which proved to be a little distracting.

Highly recommended for the beginner, or class-room instructors.

The Poetry Reader's Toolkit by Marc Polonsky (ISBN 0-8442-5988-8)

available from
Amazon.com

Weekly Exercise Spotlight

One of the latest tools available to the DMR Poetry Workshop is the Weekly Exercise. The first exercise featured a picture of a blood red sunset sky to use as inspiration, along with certain 'rules' outlined below:

The Rules for week 8-12-04

Four Stanzas
Four Lines per Stanza

You MUST use six out of eight words
in your poem.

The words:

fulsome
waterfall
incendiary
unseemly
cinnamon
lethal
toll
paladin

Any style--Free or Formal.

One of the favorite entries for this exercise was presented by Mark Leydorf:

Cinnamon Toast

The memory is gentle enough --
Cinnamon toast on Saturday morning --
Mom busily bustles about the kitchen,
Dad reads his paper absently.

But one Saturday our treat
Became a ready anesthetic,
A salve for two little boys about to be burned
Beyond recognition by an incendiary divorce.

We paid our toll in burbling butter
And rich brown sweetness.
Brave little paladin, I snapped
At my big brother, Stop crying,

Grow up.
I never make cinnamon toast --
It's a thing I love too much.
It's a fulsome treat, a lethal gift.

- Mark Leydorf