Customer Reviews

Not Feathers Yet: A Beginner's Guide to the Poetic Life

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The tone of Not Yet Feathers is wonderful: direct and intimate at the same time respectful of the reader in her/his endeavor. And though I've written poetry for a long time, I don't find it off-putting at all. In fact every time I've ever written a poem--- maybe because I want something new each time--- I feel as though I am just starting out. All past successes evaporate. So to have a book intended for "beginners" seems just right.
How good the book sounds! And what sound advice the author gives-- unique advice! She is particularly good at articulating how to keep in touch with ones subconscious, creative mind.
And beyond that, amazingly, I will tell you this. Without intending to apply myself to the advice, and NOT on a Tuesday, and NOT at Panera's (where I have a standing weekly appointment to write), I sat down yesterday and wrote like a madman. And I was writing first drafts on the computer: something I have never done before, but which Haskins finds the least obstructive for her own writing.

Carolyn See gave us an idiosyncratic, yet useful and insightful, guide for beginning fiction writers in "Making a Literary Life," and Lola Haskins has done the same for beginning poets with "Not Feathers Yet." Poetic novices will find all sorts of helpful hints--how to submit poems to editors and keep track of submissions, on which poets to read and how to broaden your reading experience, on how to perfect your style and tell the difference between the good and bad in your own work. But poets who are well past the novitiate stage will also find Haskins' insights intelligent, useful, and wise. Virtually every page contains several quotable, elegantly phrased bits of wisdom. A good example is on page 38: "Adjectives are spices like coriander and garlic and ginger. It's true that they can make food interesting, but like coriander and garlic and ginger, they need to be used with discretion or they'll be all you taste." Her suggested writing exercises also are well-taken, designed to stretch minds and embolden spirits as well as expanding styles. (Example: "All of us have done something we've never told anyone, because we know it would make us look a way we wouldn't want to be seen. Write a poem using the most telling information you've been hiding.") As a journeyman poet of 20 years' standing, I occasionally found myself disagreeing with Haskins' advice--for example, I don't think it's ALWAYS necessary to omit commas at the end of a given line--and I even caught her in one factual error (alas, it was Tennyson, not Wordsworth, who wrote "Flower in the Crannied Wall"). But the depth and breadth of Haskins' insight, as well as the sheer vividness of her writing, make such quibbles negligible. I particularly loved this passage in Chapter 10: "Bestsellers are, with a few exceptions, the Holiday Inns of literature. Even before you open the door, you know where the bed, the dresser, and the closet are going to be...(b)ut great poems are never Holiday Inns. They're those idiosyncratic hotels on side streets that bring on the apprehensive feeling you get walking into a dim lobby, the glances you and your companion exchange as you climb the stairs, the unexpected blast of wind that assaults you through warped landing windows. You know you won't know what's going to happen here until you've spent the night." "Not Feathers Yet" deserves a place on the bookshelf beside "Making a Literary Life" and Stephen Fry's "The Ode Less Traveled," and I can think of no higher praise. If you're a beginning--or even long-practicing--poet, you will find it a bracing, delightful, and highly instructive book.

As a poet, I eagerly devour writing guides of all descriptions; this book by poet Lola Haskins is a cut above the rest. Her way of approaching the poetic life--both writing and the life that nurtures it--is enriched by her "fresh eyes". I found this book to be the perfect blend of helpful information and guidance for the beginner through accomplished poet--just the right combination of exercises, practical advice, and philosophical musings. There is a particularly good chapter on reading effectively in various venues. It was enjoyable to read, full of helpful information, and left me "juiced up" and excited about writing. Highly recommended!

This is by far the most gentle, genuine and constructive guide to poetry I've read. Not Feathers Yet goes beyond the aesthetics of poetry, to the very heart of the poet. For anyone whose ever experienced being "beat down" in a poetry workshop, this book will help you cultivate the desire to write poetry again, for those who are new to poetry, Lola's book will trigger the poetry in you.

Wise, poignant, intellectual but not overly technical, emotionally savvy but void of sentimentality, Lola's unique voice, careful guidance and thoughtful writing exercises will open you up to your muses in no time.