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Kooser is not all crusty complaints and schoolmarmish instruction, however. His joyfulness over a successful poems is contagious and inspiring. Citing dozens of contemporary poems he admires, he points out in detail how and why the poems are effective. One of these is a tiny diamond of a poem by Joseph Hutchinson, which consists entirely of one incomplete sentence:

"Artichoke."

O heart weighed down by so many wings.

"Could you ever look at an artichoke the same way after reading that?" he asks. Although this is not a book on prosody, contemporary examples of sonnets, villanelles and pantoums illustrate formal verse forms, and Kooser recommends his favorite books on metrics should the reader care to delve further into that area, with the caveat that "every successful sonnet is good poem first and a good sonnet second."

Kooser treats subjects not often found in poetry manuals. He addresses unreasonable expectations and romantic illusions about a career as a writer: " A poem published in one of the very best literary magazines in the country might net you a check for enough money to buy half a sack of groceries" he writes in the chapter called "The Poets Job." Elsewhere he asks poets to think about the authorial personality they wish to project with their poems. Whether written in the poet's own voice or that of a character, the poem will always betray the writer's personal attitudes. Kooser shows how an overly clever or snobbish persona can turn readers off to the work.

A writer who feels superior to his or her material will write distant, chilly, off-putting poems, where an attitude of respect for one's subject, even if it is mice scurrying for shelter in a plowed field, will engage readers.

In the last chapter, "Relax and Wait," he provides detailed instructions on how to find places to publish, what to say in your cover letter, even what kind of paper to print your poems on. He reminds poets that a poem has to make its own way and "must be equipped to survive in a largely indifferent world." He suggests a finished poem be set aside "until it begins to look as if someone else might have written it." Then you can be more objective about removing parts that do not work or changing your word choices. "What's your hurry? Nobody's hungry for it, nobody's dying to get at it." Just write every day "without hope, without despair? and don't forget to keep pitchin' them horseshoes."