Finding What You Didn't Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity Through Poem-Making

Poetry discovers and speaks a truth ordinary language cannot express. And the passionate message in Finding What You Didn't Lose is that we're all poets—capable of giving voice to such truth.

Poet-teacher John Fox reveals how imagery, sound, metaphor, rhythm, and other poetic elements can he us tell our inner story, heal psychological wounds, discover spiritual connection, and develop the rich creative imagination that lies within us all.

Transcending the traditional academic approach to poetry writing, Finding What You Didn't Lose deals with craft but, more importantly, guides readers to explore their deepest feelings and express their own unique insights through the incomparable language of poetry.

Through an intermingling of inventive exercises and illustrative poems—ranging from Nobel Prize winners to first-time poets—readers are inspired to add their own distinct voice to a world fellowship of poets. For those who already write poetry, and the many more who want to, this book is the key to finding what you never lose: your natural inclination to express who you are through the making of poems.

Poetry discovers and speaks a truth ordinary language cannot express. Poet-teacher Fox reveals how imagery, sound, methaphor, rhythm and other poetic elements can help us tell our inner story, heal psychological wounds, discover spiritual connection, and develop the rich creative imagination that lies within us all.

John Fox offers a fresh approach to poetry writing, yet one that doesn't overlook the importance of formal techniques. Readers will be reintroduced to their poetic voice and its unique ability to heal psychological wounds which may have held it captive. Through inventive exercises, stories, and dozens of poems, Fox shows how to master imagery, sound, metaphor, rhythm, and other poetic elements for poems that explore the unique perceptions, feelings, and visions that make us who we truly are.

John Fox, CPT, is a poet, certified poetry therapist, and a lecturer in the Graduate School of Psychology at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California. He is the author of two volumes of poetry, My Hand Touches the Sea and When Jewels Sing (audio tape). John also teaches in the California Poets in the Schools Program. He serves as a vice president on the executive board of the National Association of Poetry Therapy and is a recipient of NAPT's Distinguished Service Award.