Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Master Poet Visit from Lee Bennett Hopkins


How lucky we are!  Today I am grateful to welcome master poet and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins as he shares his thoughts on "Bird's Eye View".  For several years, Lee has been my generous and demanding poetry mentor.  So many of us are grateful to Lee for his willingness to teach us this craft.

It was a treat to open e-mail earlier today to find Lee's suggested revisions for my poem.  Below you can see the original, Lee's recommendations, the revised poem, and some closing thoughts from Lee.  

When a master teacher makes recommendations for one poem, we walk away with new understandings we can apply to future poems.





From this "Lee Lesson", we learn that it is important to reread every new poem asking ourselves, "Is this the necessary?  Should I remove this and?"  Reading poems aloud is vital.

Thank you so much, Lee Bennett Hopkins, for your help and willingness to share your thinking with all of us today.

(Please click on COMMENTS below to share a thought.)

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