The venture of this inviting collection is to look, from the many vantages that the 35 poets in this eclectic anthology chose to look, at what it was—knowing that a poem can’t be conceived in advance of its creation—that helped their poems to emerge or connected them over time. The Rag-Picker's Guide to Poetry permits an inside view of how poets outwit internal censors and habits of thought, showing how the meticulous and the spontaneous come together in the process of discovery. Within are contained the work and thoughts of:

Betty Adcock
Joan Aleshire
Debra Allbery
Elizabeth Arnold
David Baker
Rick Barot
Marianne Boruch
Karen Brennan
Gabrielle Calvocoressi
Michael Collier
Carl Dennis
Stuart Dischell
Roger Fanning
Chris Forhan
Reginald Gibbons
Linda Gregerson
Jennifer Grotz
Brooks Haxton
Tony Hoagland
Mark Jarman
A. Van Jordan
Laura Kasischke
Mary Leader
Dana Levin
James Longenbach
Thomas Lux
Maurice Manning
Heather McHugh
Martha Rhodes
Alan Shapiro
Daniel Tobin
Ellen Bryant Voigt
Alan Williamson
Eleanor Wilner
C. Dale Young