Richard Alvin White's South of Boston is a prodigious collection of more than 200 poems distributed over an economical 250 pages. The breadth of subject matter is impressive; there are poems about love, loss, parenting, pets, longing, nature, youth and age, good and evil, health, politics, real estate, cattle, clowns, history, legends, fairytales, and business meetings. The Beatles, the Boston Red Sox, Boris Karloff, and Mark Twain are mentioned by name. Many, many topics are addressed here, presented in dozens of different forms.

The reason for the extraordinary volume and variety of work found here is simple. This is not only a book brimming with excellent poetry; it is a poetry textbook, come to take the world of poetry textbooks by storm. It's difficult to imagine a fresher approach to helping readers understand and appreciate poetry than found in this book. South of Boston is a tour de force, filled with insight into the human condition while never straying into the realm of inscrutability inhabited by so many offerings in this market.

White begins by discussing the structural aspects of poetry - meter, rhyme, stanzas, and forms - and then moves into discussing genres and subject matter before introducing the tools a poet uses to turn ordinary combinations of words into something "poetic." Along the way, the reader is treated to dozens of original works bristling with wit and wordplay, poignance and power.

Following the main body of the book come five invaluable appendices. The first deals with the question of what makes poetry "good" or "bad." In the second, White explains the difference between prose and verse and between verse and poetry with an astonishing degree of clarity, including two examples of the poet's craft and process. He begins each example with a simple declarative statement and then steps through the process of employing the poet's tools to transform each into poetry. The third appendix compares and contrasts poems with song lyrics; the fourth tackles the challenges faced in translating poetry from one language to another.

The final appendix, 40 pages long, offers a peek behind the scenes at the development of more than half the poems in the book - a rare window into the mind of the poet. The commentary takes different forms: sometimes a remark on the origins of a poem; sometimes a discussion of a poem's context or meaning; sometimes a revelation of the thought process and the reasons certain choices were made. White also shares some personal stories and offers a few history and science lessons in the bargain.

South of Boston introduces poetry in a straightforward and inviting way, redefining the term accessible; in addition to being an excellent reference work and an extraordinary collection of original poetry, it might very well contain the most clear, concise, and revealing glimpse into the creative process and the artist's mindset most readers will ever encounter. Whether you are a newcomer to poetry who just wants to learn something about poems and poets, an educator looking for the ideal text to introduce others to the art of poetry and encourage them to share your passion for it, or simply a lover of poetry, this is the book for you.

Richard Alvin White is a lifelong writer: a playwright, screenwriter, columnist, arts reviewer, essayist, business writer and editor - and, yes, a poet. His previously published book, Writing a Screenplay, outlines fundamental screenwriting principles espoused by several well-known authors in the field and then illustrates their use in an included original full-length feature screenplay. An experienced and innovative educator who already has helped thousands of students of all ages and backgrounds to broaden their horizons, White continues that work in impressive fashion by offering this refreshing, entertaining, and unique book for the enjoyment of novices, aficionados, and everyone in between.