Treasuring Poetry 2023 – Meet poet and author Andrew McDowell and a review #poetry #bookreview #Treasuring Poetry

Welcome to my first Treasuring Poetry post of 2023. Today, I am featuring poet and author, Andrew McDowell. I have also reviewed his excellent fantasy novel, Mystical Greenwood, and a most intriguing collection of poetry called As the World Burns: Writers and Artists Reflect on a World Gone Mad, to which Andrew is a contributor. Thanks for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth.

Writing to be Read

Which famous poet has influenced your poetry the most?

When I was young, I admired William Shakespeare. I was impressed with how he used words to convey emotions and ideas, and I wanted to follow his example. In my junior year of high school, I participated in a Poetry Out Loud contest where we had to recite a poem. I chose Sonnet XVIII (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”) and won third place. The Shakespearean sonnet was the first poetic form I tried to consistently write in beyond regular rhyming lines. It would not be until college that I began branching out to other forms and eventually free verse.

Which poem that you’ve read has impacted the way you see things in life?

This was a tough one, but one poem that has impacted me is Robert Frost’s famous “The Road Not Taken.”

Two roads diverged in a…

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