When I read a poem, I always do it with a pencil or pen in hand. I have a pencil in my hand to underline and mark the lines I like best, the ones that stop me in my tracks, the ones I find myself repeating over and over to myself..

Reading poetry is not about figuring out what a poet really means so much as figuring out what you, as reader, most enjoy about each poem and each poet.

• What line(s) or image(s) or combinations of sounds most catch your ear or eye?
• What line(s) do you find yourself slowing down to re-read… to repeat or to say outloud?
• Which line(s) or image(s) or combinations of sounds would you like to share with a friend? A lover?
• Which line(s) or image(s) or combinations of sounds will you remember tomorrow? Next week? Three decades from now?
• Which line would you like to memorize and take to your grave?

That is how you read a poem: with a pencil and your ear.

As we move into winter, you will find regular poetry “reviews” here. As part of these poetry reviews, I will be noting my favorite line(s) or image(s) or combinations of sounds. The very things that catch my personal pencil and ear.