Preface: A Few Words to Instructors
A Few Things You Should Know About Creative Writing
*A Few Words About Revision
1 Writing Poetry
A Few Things You Should Know about Poetry
The Elements of Poetry
The Short Poem: Three Models
Gail White, "My Personal Recollections of Not Being Asked to the Prom"
Ruth Stone, "Winter"
*Rae Armantrout, "Duration"
Lines and Stanzas
Meter and Rhythm
The Music of Poetry
Images, Symbols and Figurative Language
Diction, Syntax and the Language of Poetry
Poetic Forms
Sonnet / Villanelle / Rondeau / Sestina/ Cinquain / /Pantoum / Ghazal
Prose Poetry
Getting Started Writing Poetry
>Kick-Starts: Beginning Your Poems
An Anthology of Short Poems
*Sherman Alexie, "Basketball"
*Agha Shahid Ali, "Postcard from Kashmir"
Lorna Dee Cervantes, "Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-Read Person, Could Believe in the War between Races"
*Marilyn Chin, "Repulse Bay"
Wanda Coleman, "Brute Strength"
Billy Collins, "Nostalgia"
Elaine Equi, "A Quiet Poem"
Joy Harjo, "Santa Fe"
*Geoffrey Hill, "September Song"
*Brenda Hillman, "Shadows in Snow"
Allison Joseph, "On Being Told I Don’t Speak like a Black Person"
*Jane Kenyon, "The Blue Bowl"
Galway Kinnell, "That Silent Evening
*Ben Lerner, "We Have Assembled"
*D. Nurske. "Left Field"
*Naomi Shihab Nye, "I Feel Sorry for Jesus"
*Mary Oliver, "Crossing the Swamp"
*David O’Meara, "The Game"
*Deborah Paredez, "Bustillo Drive Grocery"
*Linda Pastan, "November"
*Bradley Paul, "Short Ends"
*Molly Peacock, "Instead of Her Own"
*Patricia Smith, "Listening at the Door"
Gary Snyder, "I Went into the Maverick Bar"
Gary Soto, "What Is Your Major?
James Tate, "Teaching the Ape to Write Poems"
*Natasha Trethewey, "Southern History"
*Gloria Vando, "new shoes and an old flame"
*Alma Luz Villaneuva, "bitch bitch bitch bitch"
David Wojahn, "The Assassination of John Lennon as Depicted by the Madame Tussaud Wax Museum, Niagara Falls, Ontario, 1987"
*Matthew Zapruder, "Automated Regret Machine"
2 Writing the Short-Short Story
A Few Things You Should Know about the Short-Short Story
The Elements of Fiction
The Short-Short Story: Three Models
Isaac Babel, "Crossing the River Zbrucz"
Donald Barthelme, "The Baby"
Roberta Allen, "Marzipan"
Structure and Design
Creating Characters
Writing Dialogue
Setting the Scene
Deciding on Point of View, Developing Tone and Style
First-Person Point of View / Second-Person Point of View / Third-Person Limited Point of View / Third-Person Omniscient Point of View / Tense / Tone and Style
Getting Started Writing the Short-Short Story
>Kick-Starts: Beginning Your Story 136
An Anthology of Short-Short Stories
*Margaret Atwood, "An Angel"
*Aimee Bender, "Loser"
T.Coraghessan Boyle, "The Hit Man"
Ron Carlson, "A Kind of Flying"
Raymond Carver, "Popular Mechanics"
John Cheever, "Reunion"
*Guadalupe Valdes Fallis, "Recuerdo"
*Ursula Hegi, "Doves"
*Pam Houston, "Symphony"
Jamaica Kincaid, "Girl"
Joyce Carol Oates, "Wolf’s Head Lake"
3 Writing Creative Nonfiction
A Few Things You Should Know about Short Creative Nonfiction
The Elements of Creative Nonfiction
Short Creative Nonfiction: Three Models
Rebecca McClanahan, "Liferower"
Brian Doyle, "Joyas Voladoras"
*David Sedaris, "Jesus Shaves"
Organizing Creative Nonfiction
Telling the Truth
Creative Nonfiction as Narrative
Character / Dialogue / Scene-Setting
The Poetry of Creative Nonfiction
Imagery and Figurative Language / Diction / Sound and Rhythm
Writing Yourself into Creative Nonfiction
Ethics and Edicts
Getting Started Writing Short Creative Nonfiction
>Kick-Starts: Beginning Your Creative Nonfiction
An Anthology of Short Creative Nonfiction
Diane Ackerman, "The Mute Sense"
*James Brown, "My Papa’s Waltz"
Edwidge Danticat, "Westbury Court"
*Joan Didion, "In Bed"
*Pico Iyer, "In the Dark"
Dinty W. Moore, "El Toro Rojo"
Aimee Nezhukumatathil, "The Witching Hour"
Reg Saner, "Late July, 4:40 A.M."
*Ryan Van Meter, "First"
*Alice Walker, "Dreads"
4 Writing the Ten-Minute Play
A Few Things You Should Know about the Ten-Minute Play
The Elements of Playwriting
The Ten-Minute Play: Three Models
David Ives, "Sure Thing"
David Henry Hwang, "Trying to Find Chinatown"
Tina Howe, "The Divine Fallacy"
Structuring the Ten-Minute Play
Creating Believable Characters
Writing Convincing Dialogue
Crafting a Theme
On Stage: The Elements of Production
Stage / Sets / Props, Costumes, and Effects / Lights / Sounds / Actors / Audience
Getting Started Writing the Ten-Minute Play
>Kick-Starts: Beginning Your Play
Playscript Format: A Model
An Anthology of Ten-Minute Plays
Dan Dietz, "Trash Anthem"
Kristina Halvorson, "Now We’re Really Getting Somewhere"
*Adam Kraar, "Love on the B-Line"
*K. Alexa Mavromatis, "Bone China"
*A Few Words About Getting Your Work Published and Produced
A Few Words of Farewell
Glossary
Index
*new to this edition