"Poetry-writing is a pathway to a place within yourself of sensitivity, growth, and transformation. Your writing can encourage a renewed connectedness with nature, with your most essential self, with your daily life, with those you love, with your community, and perhaps with God," writes John Fox, a poetry therapist and professor. This top-drawer resource is written and designed for those who are curious and mystified by the wonders of everyday life. Or as the Swedish poet Tomas Transtroemer put it: "The lesson of official life goes rumbling on. We send inspired notes to one another."

Three activities will help awaken the poet within you: Breathing, stillness, and listening. Also, receptivity and giving yourself permission to follow your intuition are part of the process. Reconnecting with your original creativity is hard for some and easy for others. The main point is to unlearn the cultural myths about poetry and poets. Next, you can begin to play with words and fashion poems from your journal entries. It is helpful to attach yourself to a friend who writes poetry or join a group of poetry-makers.

John Fox hits high stride in the last two chapters on "The Healing Pulse of Poetry" and "Eternity in an Hour." In the latter, he looks at the process of expressing the sacred through verse. John Fox provides wise counsel and many imaginative exercises for potential poets.