The Poet's Notebook: Excerpts from the Notebooks of 26 American Poets
InThe Poet's Notebookreaders are privy to memories, dreams,  reflections, poems, and overheard conversations as recorded in the notebooks of 26  contemporary American poets who subscribe to Somerset Maugham's belief that  "the mere habit of notebook keeping might make the writer more observant."  Donald Hall compares writing (favorably, it lasts longer) to orgasm. William Matthews  ponders a Dylan bootleg, envying the musician his ability "to turn one's work  inside out, mock it, vamp it, make it both new and continuous with its former  versions" (a published poem is, well, published). Liz Rosenberg likens a poem to a  baby, because both are "self-absorbed and containing ... the universal breath, and  needing constant tiny cares and adjustments." And Lisel Mueller invokes Yehuda  Amichai's demand that "every poem should be the last poem, written as if it  contained the last thing the poet would ever say, shaped to contain a condensation of all  the messages of his or her life." Whew. If you keep your own "compost  heap," as poet Rosanna Warren calls her poet's notebook, pick up a spare; yours  will surely be filled by book's end.