For Readers, Educators And Writers

For Poetry Aficionados and People Who Don’t Read Poetry

It also may be used as a resource …

For Educators

11 New Roads Not Taken can be used as an educational resource, inside and outside of the classroom.

(1)  For a journey into Robert Frost’s works and life.  This book includes reprints of 19 Robert Frost poems – including “The Road Not Taken,” “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening,” “Fire And Ice,” and “Mending Wall”, and various others.  This gives a meaningful introduction to Robert Frost.  And, for readers who have been acquainted with Frost’s work, the reprints provide the opportunity to step backward in time – as the font and layout are meant to be close to that in the original Frost books, in the early 1900s.  Also, the book includes new poems with significant biographical information about Frost; and there are prose introductions and notes, with insight into Frost’s creative process, ideas about poetry, career arc, and the different forms of poetry that he wrote.

(2)  For a variety of poetic forms and devices.  There is much variety within the reprinted Frost works (e.g., sonnets and other lyric poems of differing lengths and structures, as well as a dramatic narrative poem from Frost’s book North of Boston).  The book’s original new poems share that variety, while also branching in new and different directions.  Although the new poems’ style generally emulates the formal style of Frost’s poems, there are original poems of various other diverse types – e.g., shape poetry and an erasure poem (and maybe even a haiku).  So the book provides an introduction to diverse forms of poetry.  And the poems – particularly the Frost reprints – allow exploration of rhyme schemes and poetic form and structure.

(3)  For topical subject matter of broad general interest.  The new poems’ subject matter includes numerous highly-accessible topics that are generally of interest to young audiences, such as sports and technology (A.I., smart phones, etc.).  There are also poems regarding technological change and history, which would be informative to young audiences, while prompting reflection and nostalgia for older audiences – and perhaps leading to intergenerational dialogue.  There are also fictional poems.  This book is appropriate for – and intended to reach – audiences of all ages. 

(4)  For cultural icons and history.  This book serves as a springboard into consideration of numerous cultural and literary topics and persons.  E.g., it includes an original poem about famed mass media philosopher Marshall McLuhan, whose ideas gain increasing relevance in the decades after he stated them.  There are also poems about numerous notable artists, athletes, endeavors, and events from yesteryear to the present day.

(5)  For law.  The Frost reprints are possible because those poems are out of copyright (i.e., in the public domain), as explained in an introductory note – which provides an introduction to copyright law.  Also, this book – whose new poems and prose were written by an experienced, practicing small-firm lawyer (“The Poet Lawyerate”) – includes new poems that touch on other areas of law. 

(6)  For writers.  This book has potential use for writers – aspiring or experienced.  For creative writing, this book provides wide-ranging illustrations of a method of writing poetry in which existing works are used as points of departure for writing original new works – i.e., new takes.  The method may be used by anyone interested in writing poetry – including those who have not previously (or recently) written poems, as well as experienced poets.  The method may be used for writing exercise/practice/instruction – or for writing new poetry intended to be published adjacent to out-of-copyright poems, as is done in this book.  It provides a way of responding to your favorite classic poems, through poetry of your own.

For educators interested in discounts, please see directly below.

For Schools, Libraries, Gift Shops, Etc.:

Organizations and institutions, such as schools and universities, public libraries, museum gift shops, and other tourist attractions, may be eligible for standard discounts and bulk discounts.  For inquiries, please send email to poetlawyerate@outlook.com.

For Pete’s Sake –

Alright, now, enough of this stuff.
It’s a book of poetry, right?
It’s no fun for me to compose
All of this friggin’ sales-pitch prose.
I’d rather be direct and light;
Selling copies can’t be that tough:
I say, JUST GIVE THE BOOK A TRY!!
Hey, I’m not a marketing guy.

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