Structure and Surprise: Engaging Poetic Turns Book

One of the most essential books on poetic craft I've read. It's a book I've always WANTED but never knew was out there. Unlike other great craft writers like Tony Hoagland, Kim Addonizio, Robert Pinsky, and Richard Hugo among others, Theune's book isn't exactly inspirational (although the exercises in the back are quite good). But in the end, it inspires in a different way. Rather than driving imaginative content, Theune familiarizes the reader with the various structures so many poems take. As the saying goes in spiritual work, without a vessel, there can be no blessing. So too, Theune ultimately gives us this gift to teach us how to make pots, scaffolds, and towers which can elegantly hold our words.