Making Your Own Days: The Pleasures of Reading and Writing Poetry

Am daunted, in the task of writing a review, by the fact that the previous reviewers all got it exactly right! The late Kenneth Koch (1925-2002), whimsical poet, teacher, and enthusiast for the evangel of poetry here gives us a book ideally suited for any poet or reader from high-schooler to nonagenarian.The first 135 pages of the book are something of an instruction manual, or an explanation of why poetry seems so strange at first. He patiently explains the obvious : sound matters as much as sense; words have musical value; there is a "poetry language" -- or perhaps several poetry languages? -- that we discover through reading anything & everything in sight. He comes up with the happy comparison of poetry as language being put through a synthesizer!He speaks of the need to build up a "poetry base" through much exposure to the poems of the past and present; he "opens up" the Wallace Stevens poem "Anecdote of the Jar" and makes enchanting a poem that irritated me on previous readings; he makes apposite remarks on revision and inspiration ...The latter half of the book is a neat -- but not quite comprehensive, as Koch himself admits -- anthology of poetry from across the globe, & encompassing three millennia. From Li Po (Li Bai) to Lorca, from Sappho to Snyder, from Ovid to O'Hara. Senghor and Cesaire are alongside Ashbery and Wallace Stevens. Marvell and Shakespeare, Whitman and Hopkins and several in between, before and after. Most of the poems are suffixed by a comment by Koch of less than a page (except for Keats's "Bright Star" which he allows to shine by itself!). Especially good, I thought, his brief note on the sonnet by George Herbert, "Prayer," which I have been trying of late to memorize.Excellent reading for the train, the waiting room, the bed, or whatever region of the house you call your workshop or study!!

A superb introduction to the world of poetry. For my money, it does the best job of describing exactly what poetry is and how it's different from other forms of writing. Poetry is a language within a language and the essential element of this language is music. Meter and rhyme, similies and metaphors, these and other tools available to a poet are all about creating music and music is what makes a poem sing. All writing advice boils down to read a lot and write a lot. This book makes both tasks easier.

This poem brings a sophisticated contemporary sensibility to poetry in a wholly non-threatening way. Koch writes in a way a child could understand, yet his choice of poetic texts is refreshing. None of the standard Sandburg and Frost stuff that turns intelligent children (and adults) off from poetry. There are some great comments about little-known poets like Joseph Ceravolo.

Extroverted teacher, thinker, humanist, and poet Kenneth Koch has once again contributed a book that is everything its publisher and its reviewers claim. As a teacher - and a famous promoter of poetry, its creation and its creators - he is fun-loving, but also trustworthy. He knows a lot, he is humble and giving, and his goal is that you should know a lot, too. He tells the reader, "Certainly you don't have to be embarrassed by not understanding a poem right away." He succeeds. I took several weeks to read this book. You can't rush through it - it's too rich for that. Half is Koch's tour of poetry. His approach is bracing, stimulating, and calming in turn. It's a course, really, in Koch's approach, which is utterly straightforward, while retaining plenty of respect for language's possibilities for delight, mystery, enchantment, and love.Kenneth Koch admits on page 281 that he does not always understand W.H. Auden. I appreciated that. This book is especially useful for teachers of poetry. The "Anthology of Poems" that comprises the second half of this wonderful book are each followed by wise, interesting, and fresh commentary by Koch. Definitely worth reading.

this a wonderful book... an absolute must-have for lovers of poetry... especially for those who need permission to not "get it" the first or second time reading through a poem. koch's passion will rub off on you as well, as your appreciation for the music of poetry deepens... get it now!