Karen Douglass, Author

Karen Douglass, Author: Prose & Poetry

Tuesday Tips

This question from Fran, in Arizona: When you read poetry, are you mentally taking it apart as you read it or do you reread it a few times after you enjoy the message and then get really impressed with the work as an art form? I am such a fussbudget about reading poetry. I’ve read a…

February 5, 2013
Negative Space

One of the poets in our local critique group recently brought a poem that dealt with the space that art tries to occupy. It’s a hard concept to grasp, but we talked for quite a while about the possibility, and I settled on the idea of negative space in visual art. Interestingly, a novel that I…

February 1, 2013
Another Rule Broken

Read almost any craft book on writing and you’ll find the dictum that we start with action– set the hook, reel the reader in and net him, don’t let him up from his chair to use the bathroom. Well, for much of the time that works and I think we have all come to expect…

January 25, 2013
Tuesday is Tip Day for Poets

Starting right now, this minute, January 22, 2013, 7:09 MST, I am available for commentary on poems and answers to craft questions. Here’s how it works: you, the poet or reader, sends a specific question about poetry to kvdbooks@facebook.com. You give me written permission to post your poem/question/comment on a public site and to respond…

January 22, 2013
A Better Detector Finds More Precious Metal

When I lived in South Portland, ME, my daily trip to work involved crossing the mile-long Casco Bay Bridge, hoping that no oil tanker was steaming into the mouth of the Fore River, needing the drawbridge to open. The roadway on said bridge had no provision for escape and backtracking when this happened. Drivers sat…

January 18, 2013