Poetry Matters by Ralph Fletcher

 

I own several writing craft books by Ralph Fletcher and was looking forward to reading his book on poetry. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.  I love writing poetry, but I have this feeling if he stumbled onto my poetry blog he would dismiss it as a series of language arts assignments.

Last summer I was in a teacher workshop and excited when one of the assignments was to wrote a poem titled "Where I'm From."  Apparently I didn't measure up to my instructor's expectations.  She wondered why I didn't include sad things from my childhood.

I don't really write deep poetry.  I keep things light for my audience.  Besides, poetry is play for me.

This book focuses on writing from emotion and images.  Fletcher mentions form, but it's not a priority.

I guess I will stick with my language arts assignments.

I just linked up with Teaching Maddeness.  Visit her blog, for more good reads.