«A Poetry Handbook» by Mary Oliver

I’ve been reading more poetry, and scratching out efforts at poetry. Today I finished reading A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver. A compact guide into the writing and reading poetry; describing the basics, presenting a few examples, and most importantly giving bits of advice.

1. If one must choose between reading poetry and attending a workshop, choose reading. (Though consider a workshop)
2. A poem must be complete; that is it contains all that it must and is atomic, though may reference/allude to other things.
3. The process of writing a poem is vulnerable to interruptions; flow state is a good thing.
4. Revise and revisit.

In reading, I haven’t gotten beyond subvocalization. That is I say “in my mind” the words I’m reading. This, I think, helps in my read of poetry. Because I can almost imagine the breaths. But subvocalizing poems, when I have the option to read aloud, does a disservice. I don’t feel the flip of my tongue, nor the breath leaving.

Mary Oliver’s A Poetry Handbook provides this and more, delving into philosophy. I read the following and my mind cracked open:

Literature is the apparatus through which the world tries to keep intact its important ideas and feelings.

Yes, this definition of literature excludes the reality of oral tradition, which I think is unfortunate. But a quick substitution of “story” for “literature” and we hit at the heart of things. And by cracked open, I read that passage as putting words to a known truth.

We write, narrate, and tell tales to convey that which we find important. And the act of re-telling and reading and listening is engaging in that “preservation.”

Poetry is my present fascination, wrestling with the sound, shape, and shadow of words. The books that bind these poems I keep close, filling the cherry bookshelf made by my father. Throughout the days, I pull a book out, thumb to a random page, and read a poem or three. With 7 or so linear feet of poetry, I find this to be a wonderful and sustaining grazing.