The Art of Attention: A Poet's Eye [Paperback]

The Art Of series is a new series of brief books by contemporary writers on important craft issues. Each book investigates an element of the craft of fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry by discussing works by authors past and present. The books in the Art Of series are not strictly manuals, but serve readers and writers by illuminating aspects of the craft of writing that peoplethinkthey already know but don'treallyknow.

Donald Revell argues passionately for the transformation that imaginative experience elicits through poetry. The art of poetry is not about the acquisition of wiles or the deployment of strategies, Revell writes. Beginning in the senses, imagination senses farther, senses more. Using examples from his own poetry
and translations and from Blake and Thoreau to Ronald Johnson and John Ashbery, Revell'sThe Art of Attention: A Poet's Eyetakes the writer beyond the workshop and into the world of vision.

DONALD REVELLis the author of ten poetry collections, includingPennyweight Windows: New & Selected PoemsandMy Mojave, which won the Lenore Marshall Prize. He teaches at the University of Utah, and lives in the desert south of Las Vegas.The Art Of series is meant to restore criticism as an art, with writers examining features of their craft in lively and colorful prose. Charles Baxter