Marilyn McCabe presents a creative approach to writing poetry in her latest work, “Always With the Questions! One Poet’s Writing Manual” — the fourth book of the Word Works Writer’s Series — which joins a long list of publications and prestigious awards. Her collections include “Glass Factory,” “Rugged Means of Grace” and “Perpetual Motion.” McCabe also hosts a charming podcast, “Whirled Through a Poem’s Eye,” and a thought-provoking blog called “OWrite:marilynonaroll” on wordpress.com. She lives and writes in upstate New York and also teaches classes through Adirondack Center for Writing, based in Saranac Lake.

McCabe talks lyrically about writing poetry. That’s not unexpected, really, but it is unexpectedly entertaining.

She says, “I think of those days when the sky is dark and low, foreboding of precipitation, and suddenly you hear, beneath the chatter of the day, that noise, thunder. So as I write I must be listening for the noise under the noise, the thunder of what’s coming or what’s happening behind those clouds of words on the page. And when I hear thunder, then I wait. Lightning could be next.”

“Always With the Questions!” is split into four practical sections: The Writing Process, The Revision Process, Submitting Your Work, and Putting Together a Manuscript. In the first two, writing and revision exercises provide a chance to try out new writing tips and techniques, just to see what happens. Suggestions vary from writing a poetry manifesto that begins with “I write because …” to changing the narrator’s point of view from first person to second to using the last line of a poem as a title to one of my favorites, writing a poem that begins with a joke but proceeds toward a serious topic.

Section three reminds writers to read — a lot, and often, to send out their work — and to don their writer’s armor for many rejections because it is “a numbers game.” And maybe organize a submitting-your-work party with author friends, because it’s kind of an awful and sometimes demoralizing process.

Section four provides advice for organizing poem collections. She says, “Try to find and highlight some kind of connective tissue, to reveal some kind of arc.” Arrange poems by theme, or form, or similar imagery, or some other way that makes sense. Re-order, re-think and analyze poem choices. Lastly, proofread – a lot, and often. Then proofread some more.

I did not expect this manual to be entertaining. But it is. While listening for thunder and watching for lightning, poets and writers of other genres will take away lots of ideas, tips and challenges.

The very last sentence of “Always With the Questions! One Poet’s Writing Manual” usefully combines all three this way: “Remember, there are a lot of poets out there, and a lot of people doing really good work. Be one of them.”

That sounds like good advice for poets and other human beings.