Book recommendation

For anyone wanting to know a little more about the craft of poetry I highly recommend this book: The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser. It is easy to read, full of great advice about writing poems and is peppered with examples of poems to explain his points.

Ted Kooser was the US Poet Laureate for 2 years and writes very concrete, storytelling type poems about ordinary life. I have an hour long Podcast of him reading is poetry and he really takes you to his tangible world. Check out this link to read a few of his poems. I particularly like the 2nd one entitled 'Tattoo', he paints a picture of the passing of time without being melodramatic. Good stuff.