Universal Studios. Poetic craft The most often noted thing about Lenier's poetic craft was that she composed poetry in an impromptu manner and didn't seem to revise any of her work; Swansong was sent to the publisher as a first-draft copy, and in the New York Times she was quoted, "'I just write the poems straight out. At first I tried to correct a few and I didn't like the corrections, so I don't do it any more." Indeed, for her quick compositions made on the fly she was nicknamed "the possessed poet"—though it was acknowledged that such poetic production easily leads to "superficial glibness." In the same vein, the Los Angeles Times referred to her writing as "the fastest scrawl in the west." This method of composition looked down upon with some disdain by literary critics such as John T. Shawcross (editor, critic, and bibliographer of John Milton) in his Intentionality and the New Traditionalism, discussing the "truism of the need for planning and revision": "I am aware of such 'spontaneous' writing as that of Sue Lenier, who boasts of never altering a line after it has been put down, and of some critical assessments that have been quoted to increase sales. I rest my case on the reader's evaluation of her work." The immediate and effusive praise of her first book of poems, and especially John Newton's championship of her poetry, was criticised in a book by David Holbrook, John Newton, Blasphemy and Poetic Taste. Bibliography Poetry Drama Doctor's Orders Eden Song Knight Fall Radio play A Fool And His Heart (Radio Three, Drama Now) References 1957 births Living people Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge English dramatists and playwrights People from Birmingham, West Midlands University of California, Berkeley alumni English women dramatists and playwrights English women poets