Natural Histories

I've been inspired to work hard at my own writing by the work of Leslie Ullman. Take the following lines as an example of why I respect her work. "She smells blood in her hair/ and dreams of crouching at the limits/ of her skin. Having spent themselves/ the new mothers sleep like men/ in the scent of what they are." from "Midwife" One of Ullman's biggest concerns in poetry is the use of vivid imagery conveyed with a novel use of language and creative line breaks. If you're a young poet, you could do far worse than pick up any of her work and study hard. The above line is but one example of her genius. Ullman has spent a lifetime instructing young writers in the art and craft of poetry.