How to proceed on Poetry Criticism.

I am struggling with the form of how to address the comments and the crits that are coming in right now on the different poems.  At times I will post the comments on the blog face and also in the comments section.  This will be a random decision on my part because I am trying to see how this works best.

Everyone who has been invited to post on the Poetry Workshop theme agrees that poetry criticism is necessary, and also a learned ability. None of us (except probably Dr. Singh) have the answers, but we are all united in the belief that “writing means rewriting” and that poetry criticism is a tool to improve and ‘grow’ our work.  And in part ‘growing’ our work means clarifying and developing our poems as a means of communication.

Those of us here have different approaches to our poetry.  This is right and good.  Most of us here are writing Lyric Poetry, and this is a very developed and common form used in Western poetry.  We want to develop and explore the best means for doing so and creating better connection through our poems.

All that is to say that we know poetry should be introspective, contemplative and hard work.  It isn’t  just tossing off conversations with ourselves, but serious attempts to make our words resonate in the thoughts, experiences and hearts of others.

We are united in discerning those things that will improve our chosen form of communication, be it lyric poetry or other forms like tanka, choka, cinquain, or any other form.

Right now I have received (and have myself) a lot of poetry to post.  I want everyone who has contributed to receive a fair amount of attention, and therefore, I will parse out the submissions so there isn’t so many at one time. That way perhaps those reading can think deeply about the offerings, and we can give them the attention they deserve.

I encourage everyone posting to take at least one poem of another and attempt a crit.  Again, we learn together, and it IS possible to learn how to do this.  Any suggestions or ideas, no matter how cracked, are appreciated and of course are welcomed  by me.

Thanks, everyone, for a great first week and all the enthusiasm for the fine poetry submitted.

Lady Nyo