111. 6.5 practices of moderately successful poets

So what are the 6.5 practices of moderately successful poets? No need to include spoiler alerts here. In spite of its tongue-in-cheek title, Skinner’s book mostly hurries past its how-to elements in favor of a conversation in print, an inviting coterie of one that’s sure to grow in number with its readers. Unlike many poet-­teachers, Skinner believes in native ability, and the protection of talent is the first of the 6.5 practices he extols — though he also, like all good poet-­teachers, warns students off the path. “Nothing in life is certain,” he observes. “It’s less certain as a poet. You have to commit to the uncertainty. You have to commit to unreasonable devotion, and to an art that, though practiced by many, is appreciated by very few.” Aside from a couple of unremarkable pages of advice that could be found in almost any writing manual (“carve out specific, reliable times in your week for writing”; “keep that notebook handy”), the book’s opening consists primarily — and engagingly — of two brief memoirs: the first an essay describing Skinner’s childhood in Levittown; and the second culminating in a set piece that takes place in a New Haven luncheonette. This is where Skinner, fresh from a scary encounter with a goon he’s been sent to investigate, first “finds the liminal place” — the “neither here nor there, the in-­between” that leads to poetry: “Everything I would need for eternity was suddenly present,” he recalls. “Sunlight fell through the lunch­eonette window to the black and white octagonal floor tiles and blazed up, a clean light, and dust motes turned in that shaft like slow galaxies.” / Katy Lederer, New York Times 27.7. 2012

THE 6.5. PRACTICES OF MODERATELY SUCCESSFUL POETS
A Self-Help Memoir
By Jeffrey Skinner
184 pp. Sarabande Books. Paper, $15.95.