Sharing the sugar and the lemons - Karl Marszalowicz's Blog

        Kind words are sweet and personal words are better when people respond to a poem.
If the reader thinks they don't have anything one hundred percent nice and polite to say
to me I still think they should take that time to write their thoughts. Sure, try to make it constructive but I want to hear where you think I went wrong or boring etc. in my poems.
I can learn to suck the lemons, in fact the serious comments are more constructive and
help me get better faster. I don't need encouragement nearly as much as I need to improve.
        I believe that if people misunderstand something maybe I didn't phrase it properly and I will try to respond to them, let them know what I was thinking. The constructive thoughts
are great conversation starters for people that want to grow as poets and who knows they might create friendships too.
        No one is perfect either and by that I mean it is hard sometimes to take criticism but think about the possibility maybe there is a point they have too. If I got more thoughtful comments I would go back and check those poems, as should we all double, triple check. 
So with many others out there like me, we should all take time to write more thoughtfully
and not simply reply "good poem" or "I like this alot!" That to me is superficial and just written
by people conforming to the social standards of politeness. A few lemons in the sugar water
just allows us all to make lemonade.

Seren Roberts Date: 8/2/2013 2:34:00 PM I dont mind the sour with the sweet as long as its truthfully written...Be my guest...Seren Login to Reply

Charmaine Chircop Date: 7/30/2013 5:45:00 AM I love your lemonade above..Too much sugar and its diabetees..Too much lemon and stomach acidity..I guess sonewhere in between goes just right B-) Login to Reply

Isaiah Zerbst Date: 7/29/2013 11:29:00 PM Right with you Karl. If you could leave some such comments on my poetry, I will try to offer what I can for yours. Login to Reply

Suzanne Delaney Date: 7/29/2013 8:54:00 PM I agree with Binibinin: I made the mistake of offering suggestions and even though I did it privately by soupmail I offended someone and now that poet doesn't visit any more soooo it really is hard to know what to do ...so to be safe, I can it. Login to Reply Andrea Dietrich Date: 7/30/2013 2:12:00 PM this happens all the time. Even if you do it privately in Soupmail. That's why so many of us do not go much beyond superficial. If I am crazy for a poem I will make significant comments. If I truly want to understand something not clear, I will ask the poet to explain, but give technical advice? I have to know the person well to attempt THAT one!!

Kabuteng P.Ink K. Date: 7/29/2013 10:47:00 AM ha, oh gee, my captcha told me to SHHut up already, saying "SHH". Ok I will after this. With all my babbling, I will try to check out your poems and try to leave some constructive comments-- at least you are one of those people who I can list as someone who prefers their comments that way (with a bit of critique). Hope I understood right. Sugar and lemon do make for a refreshing lemonade (insight) to poems...I can also opt to make lemon squares. Or lemon cream pie. Or lemon curd--but yes, i will ease up on the butter. Hmm. Nice reading your blog, Karl! Thanks for reading my longer-than-your-blog comments. Login to Reply Kabuteng P.Ink K. Date: 7/29/2013 10:59:00 AM and yes, we all do need to improve in different ways, I am also open to that, considering other people's suggestions, I really enjoy seeing my poems through other people's eyes.

Kabuteng P.Ink K. Date: 7/29/2013 10:38:00 AM Hope you don't mind me rambling here a bit, don't worry I don't comment in blogs as often anymore, so please bear with me. This has been broached before, of how it would be nice to have people critique your work I believe there's even a critique section in the forums-- haven't visited that in ages so don't know if it is still there. But the tricky thing here is knowing when people are open to suggestions with regards to their poem (because some as you say might take criticisms the wrong way), or they are just happy to pen their thoughts & feelings. I think for the Soup, it is that kind of poetry site that fosters more 'positive points', the feel good vibes in poems rather than the critique Login to Reply Kabuteng P.Ink K. Date: 7/29/2013 10:41:00 AM But yes! it sure would be nice if people can expound more on Why they liked the poem, or what they liked about it or thought about it. But then again, there is the issue of Time and availability. Usually, what happens is you try to catch up with comments, you can't make lengthy & more in-depth comments...

Kabuteng P.Ink K. Date: 7/29/2013 10:28:00 AM Hi Karl! I really like your perspective with regards to commenting on poems. I have to admit, that when I do comment, I usually lean towards complimenting the person, highlighting the parts that I liked best, sometimes even giving my thoughts/interpretation to it (what could fit in the box though) & I somehow tend to overlook the criticism part. But something you said struck me : "I don't need encouragement nearly as much as I need to improve." The most I do is sometimes point out any typo or grammatical errors I see, somehow feeling I am not an expert wen it comes to critiquing. I admit it's sometimes hard to be more constructive in this site, since you also have to get the "feel" of the Login to Reply Kabuteng P.Ink K. Date: 7/29/2013 10:31:00 AM cont'd from above...writer, see what their style of writing is leaning towards to, & whether they are open to critiques... not wanting to hurt some feelings...& I guess this is where how we word it comes into play.