An Essential Poetry Writing Bundle: Mary Oliver, Tracy K. Smith, Dorianne Laux

Together, these books become greater than the sum of their parts. Mary Oliver's breadth and depth, Tracy K. Smith's use of poetry to confront uncertainty, and Dorianne Laux's invitation to find a distinct voice. Each of these books guides the reader through different lessons that help strengthen one's own writing and overall approach to poetry. 

A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry by Mary Oliver | This is an invaluable glimpse into the working mind of one of the most awarded and highly-regarded poets of the 20th century. Pulitzer Prize and National Book award winner Mary Oliver provides a walks through of exactly how a poem is built, from meter and rhyme, to form and diction, to sound and sense. 

Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times by Tracy K. Smith | Former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith demystifies the art form that has too often been mischaracterized as "inaccessible," "irrelevant," or "intimidating" but is instead fundamentally human. Lifting the veil on her own creative process, Smith shows us how reading and writing poetry allows us to better confront life's many uncertainties and losses, build camaraderie with strangers, and understand ourselves more fully. 

Finger Exercises for Poets by Dorianne Laux | Dorianne Laux is a Pulitzer Prize winner and the Chancellor for the Academiy of American Poets. Her book Finger Exercises for Poets is lauded as "an engaging and inspiriting invitation to practice poetry alongside one of its masters." She explores the syllable and the line, the use of form, poetic responses to contemporary events and personal experiences, the imaginative leap, and the power of a distinct voice.