Volume II Number 1
October 20, 1995
For the Poet Novitiate
The Crafted Poem.
Susan Ioannou.
Toronto: Wordwrights Canada, 1994. 58pp, paper, $8.95.
ISBN 0-92083S-02-3.
Writing Reader-Friendly Poetry
Susan loannou.
Toronto: Wordwrights Canada, 1995. 24pp, paper, $5 95.
ISBN 0-920835-15-5.
Grades 10 and up / Ages 15 and up.
Review by Liam C. Rodrigues.
excerpt:
Reader-friendly poetry is writing that communicates. It reaches beyond
confession, shrugs off literary fashion, and bypasses the esoteric and
avant-garde, to put the reader first. No matter where a poem springs
from, spilling thoughts onto paper in private shorthand is not enough. Reader friendly poetry is a public art. Its authors must select, expand,
arrange, and edit their raw inspiration to create a new whole -- one that
is open and accessible, one that engages the reader through five senses
as well as the mind and emotions. Reader-friendly poetry aims not to
puzzle, not to preach, but to share.
from Writing Reader-Friendly Poems
Collected from a series of columns that appeared in the Arts Scarborough
Newsletter between September 1980 and June 1985, The Crafted Poem is
Susan loannou's third book on writing. A poet herself, Ioannou's
sensitivity to the material originates from a practical relationship with
it. It is appropriate then that The Crafted Poem reflects on the
construction of poetry.
Directed towards aspiring poets, and presumably teachers (not only
of creative writing, but also of literature), The Crafted Poem is a
"writer's" handbook -- the transportable wisdoms, as it were, passed down
from master to initiate. As such, its strengths lie in its compact and
accessible prose, treating each trope and scheme, structural and formal
element that it broaches with a concision and clarity foreign to many
discussions of poetry.
Unfortunately, though it aspires to pedagogy, The Crafted
Poem is limited in its complexity, illustrating its points
admirably, but sketching out only what is the most familiar landscape. It
concerns itself almost exclusively with the workings, and then only the
most fundamental, of a poetic practice that is conspicuously absent as a
rule from the craft of the John Ashberrys, the Czeslaw Miloszs, the
Marilyn Hackers, the Marie Kinzies. For whom is this book then? For the
high-school junior or would-be love sonneteer? In effect, yes!
That audience will find this more than helpful, but for the more
ambitious, Ioannou's guide -- however well organized and well illustrated
-- is little more than a glance at the back of one's own hand.
Published subsequently, Writing Reader-Friendly Poetry is
something of a follow-up to The Crafted Poem. Less romantic
and freer of the "vogue parlance" that infiltrates the 1994 publication
(although one would never guess from the title), these fifty odd "Rules
of Thumb for Clearer Communication" are to revision and editing
what The Crafted Poem is to composition.
Except for the occasionally irksome heading like, "Create Team
Players," and its -- I hope intentionally -- ironic predecessor, "Avoid
Trendy Poetic Diction" (but not business jargon, apparently), Ioannou's
1995 poet's handbook is a valuable companion -- an indifferent editor
attempting to keep runaway language at bay.
Recommended with reservations.
Liam C. Rodrigues is a Toronto-area writer interested in art, archicture, poetry, and all that liberal arts stuff.
Copyright © 1995 the Manitoba Library Association.
Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is
maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364
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