therapy recognizing a need no one **~u auu~o ~--<br >ae， exclaiming， "Wouldn t it be great to present a...book of<br >zrafted poems by poets from all around the country who under~<br >the connections between writing as an art form and writing a~<br >therapeutic experience!" Ideas began to bubble， then to percl<br >Jennifer was to be publicist for the book; I， to be editor.<br > Soon a call went out， ads appeared in ~ (Poets & wri<br >and in other national newsletters; correspondence proliferat<br >The call， though specific， was open to a variety of response<br > ，，Wanted--For an anthology whose working title is Writing A G<br > Poem Is Good Therapy: a poem that incorporates feelings and<br > sensory appeals; an account of what the writing of the poem<br > achieved in the poet s sensibilities and/or workaday life."<br > The publication goal was the National Association for<br > Therapy conference， spring 1985.<br > The book s title would reveal itself， I thought， in on<br > the poems submitted. In fact， The Poet s Job: To Go Too Fa]<br > from Bonnie Winston s account of her poem， "Light Rain." A:<br > months ensued， I was more and more impressed with the numbe:<br > poems that focused on personal relationships; easily two-th<br > them did， and many of the others were addressed to a person<br > persons， a sense of whom was conveyed to the reader.<br > The book came alive， and began taking a shape of its o<br > Five areas gained definition: Early Personal Relationships-<br > f Livin Dangerously; Adult Relationships--Don t Lau~<br > Leer o g . . n <br > Serious， She Says; Adult-Chlld Relatlonshlps--You Just Ca<br > Back and Exactly Recreate a Scene; Healing Relationships--~<br > to Walls and Untalk; Personae and Other Fresh Perceptions-]<br > Masked Man in My Bed. I<br > Each of the five section titles is from a poem， each l<br > suggestive of， or applicable to， the content of many poems<br > that section of the anthology. The index of authors is a<br > convenience. The index of first lines is， I hope， instruc<br > Although I sometimes tell aspiring writers， "A poem is mos<br > middle，" I also point to the first line of a poem as wonde<br > ~mnnrtsnt for drawinq the reader in， creating expectations<br >