I thought this book was fantastic. It’s a series of lectures from Richard Hugo who was a poetry teacher before he passed in the 80’s. He had lots of great things to say about the mindset of writing. I have lots of favorite passages, and the book gave me lots to think about on how to approach writing. I think some of the main takeaways was the idea that you are writing poetry for yourself, that you write poetry for the beauty of the words and sounds. When you start a poem, you don’t really know what it’s going to be about. The real message and subject will be revealed as you write. A good poem is honest and true, even if totally made up.
It was a short book—each word and sentence was necessary. I appreciate that in nonfiction especially. I’m really tired of reading books that say the same thing six difference ways. This was a times humorous, but also quite moving and personal. I think this is a great book for people who love writing, of any kind.