Finding What You Didn’t Lose

Description

Poetry discovers and speaks a truth ordinary language cannot express. And the passionate message in Finding What You Didn’t Lose is that we’re all poets–capable of giving voice to such truth.

Poet-teacher John Fox reveals how imagery, sound, metaphor, rhythm, and other poetic elements can he us tell our inner story, heal psychological wounds, discover spiritual connection, and develop the rich creative imagination that lies within us all.

Transcending the traditional academic approach to poetry writing, Finding What You Didn’t Lose deals with craft but, more importantly, guides readers to explore their deepest feelings and express their own unique insights through the incomparable language of poetry.

Through an intermingling of inventive exercises and illustrative poems–ranging from Nobel Prize winners to first-time poets–readers are inspired to add their own distinct voice to a world fellowship of poets. For those who already write poetry, and the many more who want to, this book is the key to finding what you never lose: your natural inclination to express who you are through the making of poems.Introduction

1. Return to the Most Human
The Need for Poem-Making in Our Lives

2. Leaving the Roots on Your Writing
Revealing Yourself in Your Poems

3. Gold in the Attic
Reconnecting with Your Natural Creativity

4. Language as Play
Experimenting with the Delights of Language

5. The Brain Is Just the Weight of God
Metaphor and Other Tools of Poem-Making

6. Keep in the Heart the Journal
Making Poems from Your Journal Entries

7. The Poetry Writing Circle
Creating a Community of Poem-Makers

8. The Healing Pulse of Poetry
Breaking Through Your Pain with Words

9. Eternity in an Hour
Expressing the Sacred Through Poetry

Suggested Reading
Resources
Bibliography
Copyrights and Permissions
Index

John Fox, CPT, is a poet, certified poetry therapist, and a lecturer in the Graduate School of Psychology at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California. He is the author of two volumes of poetry, My Hand Touches the Sea and When Jewels Sing (audio tape). John also teaches in the California Poets in the Schools Program. He serves as a vice president on the executive board of the National Association of Poetry Therapy and is a recipient of NAPT’s Distinguished Service Award.US

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