Would-be poets, young poets, those who write a poem a year or prolific poets, this book is an inspiration as well as a tool shed.

If you don’t use it as a workshop (which it is), use it to expand your range. THE CRAFTY POET is a book which should be on every poet’s bookshelves. It also brings us down to earth by pointing out that there is as much craft as there is inspiration in creating poetry.

Instead of a couple of quick-'n-dirty sentences and the odd prompt, Diane Lockward has created an outstanding poetry recipe book, from a poet’s ‘how I write a poem’, through a nifty analysis of the sample poem, to poems written in response to the prompts.

You get stuck sometimes? Don’t we all. When you feel you’re in the doldrums, browse through THE CRAFTY POET and I bet it’ll get your creative juices flowing again (or just read it for entertainment).