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Ordering the Storm: How to Put Together a Book of Poems (Imagination, No. 11)
Literary Nonfiction. Poetics. "ORDERING THE STORM empowers readers to see the poetry collection as an artistic medium in itself, and offers diverse perspectives on the subject. Experienced writers and beginners alike will find inspiration and encouragement in the words of exceptional poets such as Maggie Anderson, Wanda Coleman, and Beckian Fritz Goldberg. This book should be required reading for all graduate student poets, even those who are still in the process of writing their first collection, because it includes essential information on poetic sequencing and useful strategies for examining a manuscript's possibilities. One of the most exciting aspects of the book is the sense of community that readers feel upon exploring each essay. ORDERING THE STORM transforms the task of arranging poems from a solitary undertaking to a collaborative adventure"--Mary Biddinger, Associate Editor of RHINO.
96 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2006
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93 people want to read
About the author
Susan Grimm
10Ìýbooks9ÌýfollowersSusan Grimm’s poems have appeared in Cincinnati Poetry Review, Poetry East, The Journal, and other publications. Her chapbook, Almost Home, was published by the Cleveland State University Poetry Center in 1997. Her book of poems, Lake Erie Blue, was published by BkMk Press in 2004. She also edited Ordering the Storm: How to Put Together a Book of Poems, published by Cleveland State University Poetry Center in 2006. In 2010, she won the inaugural Copper Nickel Poetry Prize, and in 2011, she won the Hayden Carruth Poetry Prize (Tygerburning Literary Journal). Her chapbook Roughed Up by the Sun’s Mothering Tongue was published by Finishing Line Press in 2011. She blogs at The White Space Inside the Poem.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
August 7, 2018
Working on ordering a manuscript for graduate school and my mentor added this to my to-read list. Enjoyed it but hardly know any other poets to recommend it to. Some great pieces of advice from poets who have been there and done that.
- “Discover that there appears to be both too much and too little order in the poems: some seem mere echoes of each other, others have very little to do with the rest.� � p. 10 (from Jeff Gundy’s It’s Simple Really: Just Sit Down at the Desk�)
- “But gradually a handful come to seem like anchors for the rest, and I start to sense some kind of arrangement.� � p. 10 (from Jeff Gundy’s It’s Simple Really: Just Sit Down at the Desk�)
- “Every book of poems is a journey. � It is all right to take the reader down into the bowels of hell, if need be, but important to escort them back out again and up into the blue air. � And yet “there is no path. You make the path in going� (Antonio Machado). I think of this line very often—perhaps more often than any other single phrase of poetry. There is no path, we make the path in going. � The poem that belongs no place often has no place in the book. � You sacrifice individual poems for the sake of the book as a whole. �. No one else can teach you how to be yourself. This is what we want to do, as artists—to become most perfectly ourselves. �. One must try to avoid cannibals, in art as in life. �. My only point—one must fins the path that works best for one’s own art.� � p. 17�19 (from Liz Rosenberg’s Journey Without a Map)
- “Discover that there appears to be both too much and too little order in the poems: some seem mere echoes of each other, others have very little to do with the rest.� � p. 10 (from Jeff Gundy’s It’s Simple Really: Just Sit Down at the Desk�)
- “But gradually a handful come to seem like anchors for the rest, and I start to sense some kind of arrangement.� � p. 10 (from Jeff Gundy’s It’s Simple Really: Just Sit Down at the Desk�)
- “Every book of poems is a journey. � It is all right to take the reader down into the bowels of hell, if need be, but important to escort them back out again and up into the blue air. � And yet “there is no path. You make the path in going� (Antonio Machado). I think of this line very often—perhaps more often than any other single phrase of poetry. There is no path, we make the path in going. � The poem that belongs no place often has no place in the book. � You sacrifice individual poems for the sake of the book as a whole. �. No one else can teach you how to be yourself. This is what we want to do, as artists—to become most perfectly ourselves. �. One must try to avoid cannibals, in art as in life. �. My only point—one must fins the path that works best for one’s own art.� � p. 17�19 (from Liz Rosenberg’s Journey Without a Map)
July 17, 2008
I was so excited to find this title in the midst of my own miasma of manuscript ordering, and I think it's such a great idea for a book of essays, but overall, I was a little disappointed by it. Maybe my expectations were too high-- the gist of the book, after all, and what most any poet-teacher will tell you, is that you have to figure it out for yourself, in your own way, blah blah blah. Surely sound advice, but it doesn't keep me from searching for a silver bullet. What I found most useful here was hearing other, more experienced poets talk about their own struggles with ordering as well as those essays that present useful case studies of very different, successful approaches. Recommended for those poets beginning to and in the messy middle of building their first book manuscripts.
February 29, 2016
The book is a collection of essays written by successful poets I've mostly never heard of. Each one gives advice on how to put together a poetry manuscript. Some essays are informal, others are formal and boring. Some authors tell about how they got their first book published. I liked those best. Mostly the advice is the same -- there's no one right way, no easy way, but here are some tips...
August 2, 2018
I put together my first full-length collection of poems two years ago, and it was fairly easy. I put them in more-or-less chronological order, divided it into four roughly equal sections, and called it done. After it did the rounds of the contest circuit for a year with no real interest, I decided to rearrange it. This time I tried grouping the poems by theme rather than chronology, and I sent it out for another year, still with zero interest expressed. By now I've run out of my own ideas, and since I found very little useful writing online on this subject, I decided to buy this book.
I had to chuckle at the reviewer who said that these essays are all by famous poets that she had never heard of. None of these poets were famous ten years ago when this book was written, and none of them are famous now, but maybe that's ok. It's usually best to get advice from peers just slightly ahead of you, and that's basically the function that these poets serve here. It's clear that they were given very little guidance about what to write in their essays. Some are long rambles that take us through the poet's whole career, while others look at the ordering of poetry collections by actual famous poets. The most useful were the few in which the poet walks us through the process of putting together a poetry manuscript, explaining all the missteps they made along the way. If only all the essays were like this, the book would be a gem!
This book was also very hard to read because it's obvious that no copy-editing was done on any of the essays after they were submitted. A few of the poets lk to abbrev. wrds, & tht drv me ^ th wll. There's no reason why someone at the university press that published this couldn't have taken an afternoon to go through and fix this kind of thing, but nobody did. In the end, that's the main reason why I can't recommend this book. I did get a few ideas from reading it, but I probably could have gotten those same ideas (in the same fractured language) from spending an afternoon in a web chat on the topic, and that would have been free.
I had to chuckle at the reviewer who said that these essays are all by famous poets that she had never heard of. None of these poets were famous ten years ago when this book was written, and none of them are famous now, but maybe that's ok. It's usually best to get advice from peers just slightly ahead of you, and that's basically the function that these poets serve here. It's clear that they were given very little guidance about what to write in their essays. Some are long rambles that take us through the poet's whole career, while others look at the ordering of poetry collections by actual famous poets. The most useful were the few in which the poet walks us through the process of putting together a poetry manuscript, explaining all the missteps they made along the way. If only all the essays were like this, the book would be a gem!
This book was also very hard to read because it's obvious that no copy-editing was done on any of the essays after they were submitted. A few of the poets lk to abbrev. wrds, & tht drv me ^ th wll. There's no reason why someone at the university press that published this couldn't have taken an afternoon to go through and fix this kind of thing, but nobody did. In the end, that's the main reason why I can't recommend this book. I did get a few ideas from reading it, but I probably could have gotten those same ideas (in the same fractured language) from spending an afternoon in a web chat on the topic, and that would have been free.
December 15, 2021
Although I read this book quickly, I will definitely return to it in the future as the advice within is worth hearing again and again.
Putting together a manuscript of poems makes me crazy. I recently took a 3-hour class on how to do this (great class with poet Sue Ellen Thompson), and this book was one of the recommended pieces. I ordered it immediately.
Ordering a manuscript is not intuitive and is not at all like writing/revising poems. It’s not like researching markets and submitting. It is not like teaching poetry, writing about poetry, or leading workshops. It is its own beast.
So the advice in this book, provided by a diverse group of 11 poets, is sorely needed for many of us. The poets do not all offer the same tips and sometimes even contradict one another, which is fine with me because there is no one right way to do this.
I highly recommend this book. There are not a lot of books out there in this topic, and luckily for those of us in need of this information, this one is excellent.
Putting together a manuscript of poems makes me crazy. I recently took a 3-hour class on how to do this (great class with poet Sue Ellen Thompson), and this book was one of the recommended pieces. I ordered it immediately.
Ordering a manuscript is not intuitive and is not at all like writing/revising poems. It’s not like researching markets and submitting. It is not like teaching poetry, writing about poetry, or leading workshops. It is its own beast.
So the advice in this book, provided by a diverse group of 11 poets, is sorely needed for many of us. The poets do not all offer the same tips and sometimes even contradict one another, which is fine with me because there is no one right way to do this.
I highly recommend this book. There are not a lot of books out there in this topic, and luckily for those of us in need of this information, this one is excellent.
August 20, 2018
I've been looking for a book to help my students as they organize their first book manuscripts, but unfortunately, many of these essays do little to illuminate the process, and most of them require the writers to know the books being discussed. Fewer essays that are longer and more detailed would have gone a long way to making this book more useful to its intended audience.
November 12, 2024
I needed this book because a client needs help arranging a collection of poems. As a writer of book length long poems and sequences, I haven't explored this thorny, intimidating and overwhelming task. This book includes essays from many poets on their approaches. It is both practical and philosophical, generative and hands on. I highly recommend this book for poets .
June 8, 2024
read for class! focusing on the importance of intuition and trust when building your own voice/narrative style as a writer
July 14, 2009
"When poets talk about assembling a book of poems," Maggie Anderson writes in her essay titled "Keeping Company: Thoughts on Arranging Poems," "we like to suggest that it is an occult procedure."
There is a good deal of occult talk in Ordering the Storm:How to Put Together a Book of Poems , talk that makes the organization of a book of poems seem beyond the abilities of all but a few gifted adepts.
Daunting talk for anyone attempting to assemble a first poetry manuscript.
Thankfully, though, there are helpful, practical tips as well, such as Liz Rosenberg's offering: "In terms of practicality, I try to start a book with what I think of as a beautiful poem, and to end with a powerful, philosophical poem." Beckian Fritz Goldberg also offers the encouraging anecdote of the length of time most poets spend assembling their first collection from among their earliest poems, the ones that basically taught them how to write, and how putting together subsequent books may seem less arcane.
Most of the dozen writers assembled here to discuss assembling books of poems seem to agree on one thing: having another reader help sort your poems is an important step in the process.
Did I get what I expected from this slim volume of essays? Probably not. Did I get what I needed? Well, to answer that, I've taken down my file of poems, old and new, blown the dust off them, and have begun (once again) attempting to put them together in an appealing, publishable collection.
There is a good deal of occult talk in Ordering the Storm:How to Put Together a Book of Poems , talk that makes the organization of a book of poems seem beyond the abilities of all but a few gifted adepts.
Daunting talk for anyone attempting to assemble a first poetry manuscript.
Thankfully, though, there are helpful, practical tips as well, such as Liz Rosenberg's offering: "In terms of practicality, I try to start a book with what I think of as a beautiful poem, and to end with a powerful, philosophical poem." Beckian Fritz Goldberg also offers the encouraging anecdote of the length of time most poets spend assembling their first collection from among their earliest poems, the ones that basically taught them how to write, and how putting together subsequent books may seem less arcane.
Most of the dozen writers assembled here to discuss assembling books of poems seem to agree on one thing: having another reader help sort your poems is an important step in the process.
Did I get what I expected from this slim volume of essays? Probably not. Did I get what I needed? Well, to answer that, I've taken down my file of poems, old and new, blown the dust off them, and have begun (once again) attempting to put them together in an appealing, publishable collection.
April 11, 2010
Very little to take from this and then "use" or "apply" to your ms. I've seen a few reviewers say that their expectations may have been too high;I agree with this. I saw this title and instantly thought: "Finally, a book that will tell me *how* to put my ms together." In the end,and it may be the only *real* way to do it, you have to try to obtain a "feel" for the flow of your material, and this is different for every person. At least I feel that I'm not doing something wrong. And for that, it was probably of some value. I found 3 of the 11 essays probably worth reading again, at some point.
April 14, 2015
Nice way to stir up some ideas about how to envision poems working together. The variety of writers allows for overlap and contradiction in a good way. You can sort of pick and choose which tips and metaphors for the process work best for you. Maggie Anderson's idea of the poems 'keeping company' with one another seems like a very important idea. Another writer suggests allowing space between poems of the same theme within a collection to let them echo or dialogue with one another. I believe every single essayists mentions spreading the poems out on the floor at some point or another. Maybe you could just make them into floor tiles..!
August 23, 2009
An interesting collection of essays by well-published poets on the process of assembling their manuscripts. The essays cover several points of view. They discuss a "straight-through" manuscript versus arranging unified sections. Most of the manuscripts discussed were prepared as contest entries, and advice for that process is shared. It was encouraging to read of the manuscripts that didn't make it, or were finalists but not published, the first entry, but succeeded a year later after revision and reorganization.
December 30, 2013
Why did I not read this in graduate school?! While piecing together the first version of my manuscript, I would have loved for someone to recommend this slim volume of essays. Perhaps it's not that well known. Hopefully that will change. I highly recommend this to anyone trying to bring order and cohesion to a manuscript-- or to anyone who needs a (new) way to think about how to organize one's poetic obsessions. Some essays are better than others, but it's a solid collection that covers a wide range of approaches and philosophies to "ordering the storm."
March 11, 2015
A bit rough going in the beginning because of all the expected ideas, this collection takes off during the Miltner essay, when the contributors start to contradict each other and call into question those expected processes mentioned at the beginning. The Anderson essay is my favorite because of its theoretical underpinnings and quilt metaphors, and of course it's the last in the collection. I'm not sure I got the practical suggestions I was looking for, but of course the book calls into question my amateurish thirst for such certainties and specific direction.
April 9, 2019
This was great little selection of essays by writers. I enjoyed learning different processes of putting a poetry book together!
probably will revisit when it is my time to actually put my manuscript together!
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Update -
Second time around with this and it still is extremely helpful. This time around I was actually putting together a manuscript, so it felt like such a perfect time to read this.
probably will revisit when it is my time to actually put my manuscript together!
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Update -
Second time around with this and it still is extremely helpful. This time around I was actually putting together a manuscript, so it felt like such a perfect time to read this.
June 18, 2010
Nothing really surprising here, and I don't think any major light bulbs will go off, but the essays are good and worth a read. Interesting thoughts on a variety of attitudes about and personal experience with book making and organization.
Read
July 4, 2014For the person trying to put together a collection, this book provides a lot to think about. For any other reader, it gives an intriguing glimpse at the processes of several poets. In both instances, the reader will find something worth keeping.
September 9, 2007
I have an essay in this book.
Good for poets putting together first or second collections.
Good for poets putting together first or second collections.
January 2, 2008
Many different takes on how to put together a book of poems, an undertaking not unlike writing a large poem of many parts.
I found many of the essays most helpful.
I found many of the essays most helpful.
June 18, 2008
some silly navel-gazing, but it got me thinking. i liked Beckian Fritz Goldberg's essay.
February 24, 2009
one of the essays was somewhat interesting and somewhat useful. The rest, not much to write home about.
February 24, 2011
Less like a how-to book and more like a self-help book to remind you that no one else knows what they're doing either.
December 26, 2015
Less an instruction manual, and more a collection of reminiscences of writers' first published books. Okay, but nothing revolutionary. (Read: didn't help me with my own first-collection woes.)
May 16, 2016
Far and away, my favorite/the most interesting or helpful chapters were ones where the author simply explained their approach to arranging their own books.
January 10, 2023
Probably most useful for a poet's first book.
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