The Rhythm Method, Razzmatazz and Memory: How to Make Your Poetry Swing

by Keith Flynn

Trace Poetry's Long Blue Line and Discover the Power and Music in Your Own Voice Poems are made of words, not ideas. Those words are rhythmic and, when chosen and composed properly, are capable of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582974047
• ISBN13: 9781582974040
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books
• Length: 330 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.6" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Unique

This is a really more of a mosaic of the influences of the writer than a 'how to write poetry that swings book', which (considering the title) could make you feel mislead if that was what you were looking for. In saying that, I totally recommend this book to people looking for an inspiring and fast moving yarn that weaves through a lot of literary history and related observations without dragging or going over your head at any point.

A Primer on Supercharging your Poetry

Razzmatazz and the Rhythm Method By Keith Flynn By far the best book I've ever read on writing poetry. Not only does Flynn break it down into practical workable techniques in memorable original language, but he offers a host of references that inspire as well as teach Luckily, Keith writes prose like he speaks, full of drama, enthusiasm, energy and with that sometimes off-kilter glint in his eye that dares you to do it too. "...What the reader craves, and I've spoken here already about the reader's primacy, are beautiful accidents, surprise and astonishment in the poem, doors opening outward to true vistas for the first time. Something built up from within, not merely extracted from the exterior. The connective tissue is the evanescent need to become part of something that is larger than humans or mere language, but parts of both compressed into radioactive poetry; the right words in the right order, lending light. A poem is an animal big enough to ride, teeming with unexpected energy, charting a course into the unknown, moments of agility and delight that do not throw the rider off its back, but serve as reminders of the exquisite muscularity and nimbleness of the animal, and the reader is made more beautiful as well, by having ridden it." --Excerpt from Chapter 5 The Rhythm Method, Razzmatazz and Memory: How To Make Your Poetry Swing Keith was one of my main inspirations, maybe 15 years ago, when I saw him perform, charismatic passionate rocker guy at Al's Pumphouse in Greenville, SC and there he was selling his slim volumes of poetry from the back of the club which always smelled like beer and sweat and when I took the book home and read it, I was blown away. How could one person be so good at two very diverse creative pursuits? His poetry is intelligent, quirky, original, challenging us to open our minds, while as a singer and performer he's a fun and dynamic but rather down to earth guy, always smiling out of a strange little grin that makes you feel like he knows more than you do. Well, he does. But he's willing to teach if you're willing to listen - actually he demands that you listen and you do and you are stirred. And after this book, even portions of it, you will write better poetry than you believed you could ever write and you'll take chances and you'll find your voice and your words will inspire others. And underlying it all, is a message, intended or not - is to you truly wake up to the fact of your unique nature and individuality and once you are tuned into how much personal power such an enlivening belief offers, you will be forever changed into a shaker and mover - no matter what form you choose. And how there is so much more to the world than we are taught and how once we pull away the veil... "...We have been conditioned to believe that our external reality is true, but does not match our internal reality; however, there is an infinite sea of potential. Our brains are lit by what we see and b

Duende - What It Is, Where It Came From, And Why

Keith Flynn manages to distill the act of creating art, be it painting, sculpture, music or writing, into not so much a "how to" book as a "how and why" book. In these pages you'll discover how and why such great poets as Federico Garcia Lorca remain today a "gold standard" of expression and why, for instance, writing artists often find themselves most happily in the company of musicians as well as artists in other media such as sculptures and painters, actors, opera singers, inventors, creators of sounds and symbols. Lorca, for instance, indeed tried to infuse his poetry with "Duende," the first cry of human anguish, sometimes described as "The Gypsy Wind." Flynn explains in clear but flowing language like a whisper in your ear or a conversation almost barely overheard the concept, and where and how Lorca discovered it, felt it and used it. Language, as Robert Frost knew, is much more than a mere collection of symbols for thought and expression. Like all sounds in the air, words have a frequency and amplitude and harmonic resonance. Flynn has discovered the tuning device of the human voice as expression of the human heart and mind - and soul. If you're a reader or a writer, or a listener and thinker, buy Flynn's book. You'll be glad you did.