Encouraging exploration and practice, this book offers hundreds of exercises and numerous tips covering every step involved in creating poetry. Each chapter is a self-contained unit offering an overview of material in the chapter, a definition of terms, and poetry examples from well-known authors designed to supplement the numerous exercises. Chapters in the book are: (1) Preparing...developing your poetic sensitivity, to see the world as only you can; (2) Language...learning the fundamental tools of poetry and using them effectively; (3) Sight...refining sight and insight--to make your poetry come alive...; (4) Sound--sensitizing yourself to the music of words; (5) Movement...developing the rhythmic qualities that make poems sing...; (6) Shaping--understanding and using the basic unit of which poems are made; (7) Patterns & Traditions--taking advantage of the full array of poetic forms; (8) Voice--becoming aware of the five nuances of how the words are connected and revealing each poem's implied speaker; (9) Sources of Inspiration--opening up to all the potential sources of poetry; (10) Things to Write about--transforming what's general into the specific; (11) Other Arts, Other Influences--appreciating and drawing inspiration from the interrelationship among all the arts and sciences; and (12) Finishing--bringing each poem to successful completion. An appendix offers advice on submitting poems to magazines. (RS)