In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet's Portable Workshop

As I started to read this book, I thought I had a pretty good idea about poetry. I was totally wrong. I knew nothing at all. In the foreword to this book Dorianne Laux writes:"I was lucky. And now you can be lucky too". I thought that it sounded promising, but then I did not think more about it. As I started reading and after just a couple of pages, I understood what Dorianne Laux meant. If you hold this book in your hand and if you are prepared to discover what Steve Kowit has to show you about the world of poetry - then you are truly lucky. As the title says, you hold the Poetry in the Palm of Your Hand. Go for it!

I chose this book because of the glowing reviews. I was disappointed. I expected a discussion of the nature of poetry and how it is constructed. What I got was "A process for recovering memories" (Recall a pleasant time in the past., Recall a building in which you once lived., etc.)

I gave this book one star because some of the critiques of the ibcluded poems were interesting although the choices of poems was not. Knowing what I now know, I would pass on this book.

Since 1996, I have kept this book handy on my nightstand and carried it with me on every vacation I take, just to make sure it is accessible when I am ready to learn more about reading poetry, to improve my writing of poetry, to give myself assignments for writing, or just to read and re-read some of the beautiful samples included inside. I have and have utilized a number of "poetry handbooks," but find this one the best. It is just a great book for anyone interested in poetry from any angle. It is also helpful for discovering new poets, too, as the samples included are drawn from a wide body of authors.

Don't have the funds for a Poetry Workshop but want to improve your writing? Here it is! This is a wonderful book. It contains tons of exercises, practices and methods of improving your work! I highly recommend it!

This book came to me as an excersize work book. I started it and realized that he was reaching a goal with the way he handled the teachings. His way of explaining how a style was built from the bottome up and the steps, as in one chapter after another, made creating so easy.

I stuck to each and every lesson and poem assignment. If it meant research, I took a trip to the library. An adventure in trying different styles! I would put my mind, body and soul into what I would put on paper. We all know that writers have to write.
Some of my old poems were redone with his ideas. My friends saw my revised poems and went "Oh WOW! And this is from the studies from this book?" A compliment for me and applause for his lessons.

I highly suggest any poet, beginner, intermediate or advanced, to do read this book. AND I would suggest going back and redoing the exercises from the start. It was from my open-mindedness and my perserverance that would have me do each exercise. It wasn't work anymore, it was fun!!