Chapter 2 in Writing Poetry (Reading Response)

This chapter in Writing Poetry really helps me with the beginning process of writing poetry.  I used to try writing it when I was a kid, but to me, they would come out sounding poesy and prosy.  I am glad I finally know what those words mean so that I can describe what the issue was.  The poetry I wrote just sounded like another version of songs and poems that had already been written.  I really enjoy words that are fresh and not so frequently used.  This is why free-writing at the beginning of a poetry session will come in handy:  I can write a load of words that spew out of my mind, and later on, pick the words and phrases that stand out and are super uncommon.  Then I can use a contraction strategy that the book calls "radical arrangement" to put the unique pile into an order that will create more original combinations and an order that will make sense when it is read.  After this process, I can use the "creative erasure" strategy and completely omit the prosy parts to make the poem a more interesting read.  Although I am still in the dark when it comes to the size and shape of a poem, I certainly feel like I know a little more about how to start the process of writing a poem and turn it into a success.