The Wounded Line: A Guide to Writing Poems of Trauma

by Jehanne Dubrow

In this accessible and inspiring guide, acclaimed writer Jehanne Dubrow draws on how the study of trauma has defined both her creative work and her teaching. The Wounded Line, the first craft-based writing book of its kind, is grounded not only in research but also in heart, in the belief that even our deepest hurts can find a lyric form. Leading poets through a series of practical approaches to representing pain on the page, Dubrow provides readers with narrative techniques, rhetorical structures, and formal strategies that can be applied to any trauma, from the global and the historical to the intimate and the personal. The Wounded Line encourages poets at all stages to address the difficult, discomfiting questions that ache within each of us.

Genres: Crafts

144 pages, Paperback

Published November 4, 2025

About the author

Jehanne Dubrow is the author of nine books of poetry, including most recently, Wild Kingdom (Louisiana State University Press, 2021) and a book of creative nonfiction, throughsmoke: an essay in notes (New Rivers Press, 2019). Her previous poetry collections are American Samizdat, Dots & Dashes, The Arranged Marriage, Red Army Red, Stateside, From the Fever-World, and The Hardship Post. She has co-edited two anthologies, The Book of Scented Things: 100 Contemporary Poems about Perfume and Still Life with Poem: Contemporary Natures Mortes in Verse.

Jehanne's poems, essays, and book reviews have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Poetry, Southern Review, Pleiades, Colorado Review, and The New England Review. Her work has been featured by American Life in Poetry, The New York Times Magazine, The Slowdown, Fresh Air, The Academy of American Poets, as well as on Poetry Daily and Verse Daily. She is the founding editor of the literary journal, Cherry Tree.
Jehanne earned a B.A. in the "Great Books" from St. John's College, an MFA in poetry from the University of Maryland, and a PhD in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In her free time, she is currently earning another MFA—this time in creative nonfiction—from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

She has been a recipient of the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America, the Adrienne Rich Award for Poetry from Beloit Poetry Journal, the Crab Orchard Series Open Competition Award, the Diode Editions Book Contest, the Editors' Prize in Prose from Bat City Review, the Firecracker Award in Prose from CLMP, the Mississippi Review Prize in Poetry, the Towson University Prize for Literature, an Individual Artist's Award from the Maryland State Arts Council, a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship and a Howard Nemerov from the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and a Sosland Foundation Fellowship from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The daughter of American diplomats, Jehanne was born in Vicenza, Italy and grew up in Yugoslavia, Zaire, Poland, Belgium, Austria, and the United States. She lives in Denton with her two Bedlington Terriers, Lola and Bandit, and with her husband, Jeremy, who recently retired from a 20-year career in the U.S. Navy. Jehanne is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of North Texas.

Reviews

[Suncolby · Rating 5 out of 5]

In her latest book, The Wounded Line: A Guide to Writing Poems of Trauma, Jehanne Dubrow provides an accessible, meaningful, and practical approach to the difficult challenge of writing about trauma, from the global to the personal. The book is neither academic or clinical but it is clear that Dubrow has done her research in both of these areas. This, combined with her experience as both a stellar writer and a master teacher, give her latitude to present ways to explore trauma using the written word. Each chapter gives a meditation/exploration of a way in which trauma can manifest, followed by well-chosen examples of poems, presentation of craft elements, and excellent writing prompts. The book is easy to navigate and immediately applicable. As a writer and teacher who works with Veterans, I have already put this book to the test with excellent results.

[Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

While with good intention, the author had limited research on the “trauma” component of the book and instead spent time doing analysis of a handful of poems per chapter that match the writing technique of the chapter and related to traumatic topics.

While meant to be a guide to help writers, the questions at the end of each chapter did not provide much substance beyond general surface level approaches of replication of the poems.

The exploration of trauma is written not for a writer with a trauma-related incident they wish to put into prose, but for an outsider wanting to see what that would feel like. Which, when discussing the connection of generational trauma relating to war does work, but it is framed to be for trauma beyond that which creates a complicated and at times lacking attempt at exploration of other forms of traumatic experiences.

Speaking as someone who has experienced trauma, writes poetry, and a background in trauma-informed mental health counseling, of course.

Which doesn’t mean it can’t be done. There is some research on the depth of trauma and its modalities of expression outside of prose that should have been further done for a more well-rounded, trauma-informed, and mindful exploration.

Yet, this is mainly in the final chapter. A strong discussion on how trauma writing can impact someone and a warning to be prepared or have therapeutic help for the intensity it can bring.

Which should have been in the first chapter, as without it. Some questions fell flat, as a request to re-live your trauma for the assignment. Which, if used for the instructional setting, would mean leading a student to potential harm.

I also wish the author spent more time discussing their own trauma-related poetry, it would have been a stronger case to see how the established poet uses these principles to be taught and breaks it down for an in-depth execution of exploring the topic of trauma in previous works.

[Hackbarth Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like misunderstanding could emerge from the fact that this excellent craft book zooms out from personal trauma at times and shifts to collective trauma by focusing on the work of other writers. To me, this seemed a deliberate choice to create a book that is inclusive and applicable to all. However, it is grounded by the thorough history of the author's personal trauma in the introduction. Just like workshops or craft courses, close reading the works of writers is standard practice within an MFA program, etc. It would not be a craft book if it only spoke about the author's experiences; that would be a memoir. I am not understanding how that nuance was missed, but I encourage anyone interested in writing or thinking about the state of being human in today's world to read this book.

[Christian Livermore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent new and unique craft book for writers trying to turn personal trauma into poetry. Another reviewer made the point that this book functions in the same way that classes and workshops in writing do, and I think that's exactly right. Figuring out how to create trauma writing that is effective for readers who have not experienced such trauma (or who have, for that matter) is incredibly difficult, and Dubrow's close readings of other poems provides great insights into the process. Really just a great book.

[Diane Gottlieb · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wounded Line should be on every poet's bookshelf. Dubrow provides poets invaluable guidance on the challenging art of writing about trauma through an examination of various forms that are especially suited to difficult content. The Wounded Line is also a wonderful read for those who don't call themselves writers. A mas­ter­class on the inter­sec­tion of trau­ma and art and on how and why such poems touch us deeply, The Wound­ed Line will be cher­ished by any­one wish­ing to explore their own painful expe­ri­ences or those of the peo­ple who came before them.

[Delaine Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

No spoilers here, but I feel as though the author, through her personal experiences with war and other traumatic events, is able to share a lot of useful advice about writing poems on trauma. She gives the reader many practical suggestions (that they might not otherwise have discovered on their own) so that they, too, can learn how to express their feelings and recount their traumas through different forms of poetry.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jehanne Dubrow’s The Wounded Line is a long-awaited, necessary book and a gift to writers. People can live their whole lives with traumatic memories swirling inside. It can feel impossible and frightening to give language to such events. Dubrow shows us not only that it is possible, but variation upon surprising variation for how.

[Hugh Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for anyone interested in the intersections between poetry, trauma, and war. Five stars!

[Chloe Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Jehanne Dubrow for this insightful, thoughtful and wide-reaching craft book on writing poems of trauma (personal, national and international trauma.) The book outlines various ways in which authors have approached writing about trauma in the past (songs, fugue states, ekphrasis, etc.) as a beginning. Each section ends with very specific writing prompts that build on the chapter and the poems shared. Which is to say, each chapter ends with an opening and space for the reader.

I learned to think about poems of trauma differently (through the categories and close readings) and was introduced to some new poems and poets, too.

And, of course, the writing was beautiful and engaging, as well as personal in some places, and well-researched in others. It was a welcoming read on a very hard subject.