Provocative Lines

"We need so many words to make us whole."

-Kristine A. Polansky, "If Snow"

Two-time Poet of the Year for the Kansas Authors Club, Kristine A. Polansky shares more than a cherry-picking of her poems from the last three decades in Provocative Lines: The art of breaking and arranging lines into poetry. Polansky has given us-from fledgling poets to those delving deeper into their poetry writing practice-a course in poetic form, a book that is fine for front to back reading, but best experienced slowly, chapter by chapter, pen in hand, as the explorations into the "art of breaking and arranging poetry into lines" will make the reader want to stop and experiment with their own wordplay.

More than just a book about writing poetry, this is a history lesson on language and poetic form. Polansky highlights the ever-evolving nature of language, the impact of poetry on words we speak in our everyday lives, and the influence speech has had on poetry over generations.

"Mary Oliver surmised the pentameter line 'most nearly matches the breath capacity of our English lungs,' but I think, when it comes to understanding the length of lines of blank verse, we should consider the breadth of English history rather than our own breaths." (Provocative Lines, pg. 139)

Warning: Open this book with caution. Poetry may result.