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Don't Post Poetry Here!!! Talk about anything or need a shoulder to cry on? Share your thoughts and emotions here:
6/3/2010 9:31:08 AM

Zera Masters
Posts: 2
Its strange how this site seems to be based on contests and competitons.
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6/3/2010 10:57:04 AM

DE R
Posts: 12
Yes, it should be more about learning and sharing poetry. Everybody just focuses on writing the perfect poem for a contest and impressing the jury...poems are suppose to be about feelings, not about competitions. Sometimes I don't like that people comment on my poems just because I commented on theirs. I want for people to comment on my poem if they liked it or, if not, to tell me what they didn't like so I can make it better...
edited by sakura_blossom on 6/3/2010
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6/4/2010 3:03:39 AM

Spade Sincuna
Posts: 28
3 types of poets/writers

1. Who writes to be read.
2. Who writes to experience catharsis.
3. Who is both 1 and 2.

Now obviously there are consequences for each.

Poet 1, would have to accept the fact that once he or she releases her poem to the world, it becomes part of the world. Tolstoy had this view in aesthetics that once the artist shows his/her work to the world, it is no longer his own art but the world's. So Poet 1, must accept any criticisms on his/her work, whether he/she likes it or not. If he/she does, then good. If not, then either accept it, or debate against the criticism.

Poet 2, on the other hand, is a more isolated individual and most poets wouldn't call themselves poets at all if it wasn't for the goal of being read. Have you ever encountered a poet who has never had their poem read? Consequence of course is that no one other than the writer would care about the poem.

Poet 3, is more of an abundance. Its a win-win situation for everyone. Some, like most of the people in this forum, focuses more on the 2nd quality more than the 1st. Hence, accept the consequence of both.
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6/4/2010 5:34:20 AM

DE R
Posts: 12
doofus wrote:
To Emily: If someone takes the time to read my poem and likes it; I appreciate the comment. If not - i perfer they move on. I could never hurt someone's feelings by knocking their Poetry. I feel that they are writing from their heart. I know my limitations , and sometimes i go back and delete poems i've written because i knew they were not up to my best effort.


When it comes to others, I really hesitate in making any suggestions at all, as it could be offensive to the writer. I couldn't hurt no one's feelings either. But I'd rather shut up than flatter someone else if I didn't like their poem.
I was just talking about myself. I wouldn't like for people to praise me if I don't deserve it. I'm always looking to get better at everything I do, thus I believe constructive criticism would make me realize my mistakes and then I would try to fix them. But when someone says "your poetry sucks", that's just being mean, that's not making constructive observations. You can say "You've misspelled one word. I advise you to be more careful when writing a poem." or "You should consider using more figures of speech, it would make your poem more beautiful." I don't like people who criticize too much just because they have a pleasure in doing so, or people who flatter too much just because they don't want to say something bad. I just like honesty, nothing more, nothing less.
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6/4/2010 8:32:18 AM

Spade Sincuna
Posts: 28
^ Kind of the same here. Though I'd rather have brutal honesty and criticism that comes with logical and literary context. I'm part of a literary folio in school and there have been times when our editor (after reading my submitted work) would just comment in writing: "what is this, high school?"

Which may seem disrespectful to most of you, but that's what you should expect when you try to put yourself in the literary world. Don't expect gracious comments from everybody because there are only a few people, even in a literary website, that can actually "read" a real poem.

Gradually, our editor's comments becomes more constructive as our poems become more scholarly.

"The line breaks don't match the narration of the poem"

"The tone becomes inconsistent in the last two stanzas"

etc... but when the time came that our editor highly criticized my poem on each line as if she had written a 2 page essay on criticizing my poem (very constructive and still bashing it; pointing towards even the smallest mistakes), that was the time I actually became very proud of my work. I've felt that finally I had created something. Even if it still failed to be a "completed" work.

The point is, the greatest feeling of recognition doesn't always come from happy and flattering complements.
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6/4/2010 5:13:18 PM

aneysa churchwell
Posts: 25
omg i lost the contest =(
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