Paper Camera: Poems, Poets, and Poetry

The author shares a collection of musings full of insight and whimsy on the conundrums of poetic art. She begins by asking herself why poetry exists, what it does for us, and why we're afraid of it, and concludes with a poem thanking those who have driven through the dark to attend a reading, with many unexpected shifts in mood and focus in between. Some of the poems are deeply personal, as she reminisces about good times with friends and fellow poets, some of them no longer with us. Others take the form of an instruction manual, offering advice on "the basic plot" and "the art of revision." It's a world of words in service to emotion, conveyed with the light touch of a late-night fireside conversation at an artist's colony.