“Poetic License” falls into a poetic genre called ‘ars Poetica’ in which poets write about the art of poetry. The book has two distinct halves.  In the first, I write about what, how, where, when I write.  The great thing about poetry is that it rarely says things directly, instead it sidles up, using sensual clues and imaginative images to paint the picture of an emotion or state, so that the reader can feel what it’s like to be awake at 4am, after too much wine, trying to figure things out. There’s love here, bitter-sweet memories, parodies and pleasures – something for everyone.

In the second half, I present a writing exercise and the poetry that resulted from my experience with it. I asked several friends to give me a list of eleven words each and set myself the task of writing a twelve-line poem, including a line for each word from their list.  The idea was to get out of my own head and use their words as springboards to subjects and concepts I wouldn’t imagine on my own.  The process worked well, and demonstrates better than a thousand lectures the art of making poetry.

Below, find my favorite list and its subsequent poem. Feel free to make your own poems from these words…

Kathryn
  
 Invite
 Treacle
 Fig
 Inverted
 Polymath
 Shoo
 Feline
 Tummy
 Azure
 Blunderbuss
 Ivory
  

The Spaewife
  
 Our town boasts a local prophet, a polymath 
 of great renown. Feral felines gather round her, 
 invert themselves luxuriously upside-down
 for satisfying tummy rubs and tickles.   
 Sweeping tails shoo persistent flies. Pink tongues
 lap creamy treacle-flavored milk from yellow bowls. 
  
 Beneath the plaza’s venerable fig,
 shaded from an endless azure sky, she spreads 
 papers, charts, and tarot cards; invites all questions, 
 but keeps a primed and ready blunderbuss,
 complete with ornate ivory stock, beside her knee.
 She is prepared to suffer cats, but can’t abide a fool.