During the revising of the poems within this book, one of my favorite picture book authors, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, died. For some reason, I had no idea that she had written a couple of adult books. Her most recent book was a collection long and short essays that were laid out like a textbook. I read another book of hers that was laid out like an encyclopedia. I thought, I love these forms! And I could see something similar working for the poems I’d written that year.
Inspiration comes from everywhere.
So I began laying out the poems I’d chosen for this book by subject. It began to resemble a comprehensive textbook—the book of life. I grouped poems into divisions like Math and Science and English and History and Philosophy. The shape of Textbook of an Ordinary Life was born.
During the year I challenged myself to daily poetry, I experienced what most people experience in the course of a year: disappointments, joys, revelations, setbacks, hope. I brooded on my past, examined my present, and thought about my future. I grew.
I was inspired by what I read, by the time I spent with my family, by interactions with strangers, by walks in nature, by my daily lived experience.
This book really spans the universal experience of a life.
(Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash)
