We need to have a poetic Renaissance here

Norman D Gutter · Feb 3, 2010

Dichroic was running a formalist workshop, which someone could always post to and bump it. My main critique of that was I thought it got a little jumbled, all those different forms in the same thread. Each form could have used a thread of its own, each thread rising and sinking from time to time as interest grows/wanes/grows.

Also, I began a workshop about the line in poetry, languishing here on page 19 of this forum. If anyone thinks this is a good idea, post and bump it and we can continue.

I'm sure others can think up new items to lead a workshop on.

NDG

SirOtter · Feb 3, 2010

poetinahat said:
For example if I get the impression that a poem took five minutes to write,

That would be me.

S'OK, I'm fully aware that as a poet I'm a country fair purveyor of doggerel. I like to think of my verse as Hallmark cards from the Addams Family. I do enjoy and am greatly impressed by all of ya'll who can write real poems, but have no idea how you do it so I'm happy to just sit back and observe. If I offer no crit, it's not that I disapprove of you, but of my own meagre critical skills as regards verse.

ajc · Feb 3, 2010

Norman D Gutter said:
Dichroic was running a formalist workshop, which someone could always post to and bump it. My main critique of that was I thought it got a little jumbled, all those different forms in the same thread. Each form could have used a thread of its own, each thread rising and sinking from time to time as interest grows/wanes/grows.

Also, I began a workshop about the line in poetry, languishing here on page 19 of this forum. If anyone thinks this is a good idea, post and bump it and we can continue.

I'm sure others can think up new items to lead a workshop on.

NDG

Agree about the thread thing. Each new venture should have its own thread, as it gets too jumbled and hard to follow (and presumably we're doing one and then moving on to the next so...). Also, some people have a style that may not have a "proper" name, but it would still be fun to learn and try their type of poetry (Steppe does the most beautiful poetry about nature in his own sparse spectacular way, and Mags twists and twines words in her her own twisty-twiney way, and then Casey has his own everyday/Yamrus style and then....).

dobiwon · Feb 4, 2010

Even though it's long, I've quoted Feiss' original post because it seems the thread has taken a slight turn from her original thoughts. There is still plenty of posting in the critique forum, and there are a fair number of crits for most of them. But I agree with Feiss that the crits are not as in-depth, or, as she puts it "that totally illuminate something missed" in the poem. I also agree with the reasons she gives why those same people who critted then are not critiquing now, but I think there are some other reasons, not the least of which PIH stated (about a critter spending 15 minutes to critique a poem which seems to have been written in 5 minutes.) I'm not pointing to or referring to anyone in particular, so please don't anybody take offense. I think probably all of us are guilty of posting for critique poems that we know are not finished, let alone our best effort. I still read through most of the poems in the critique forum, but I only critique those for which I think my comments might be useful and/or considered. The trouble for me is that many of the poems are not the style or subject matter that appeal to me very much, so I don't think my comments would be helpful. I don't think I'm alone in this feeling--at least three responders to this thread have either said or implied the same thing.

All that said, I think there's a pendulum-like activity cycle in this forum, and given time, things will swing back. There are a great bunch of people that frequent this forum, and the diversity of style and substance is what makes poetry such a wonderful endeavor.

The ideas of workshops and contests and other activities are good, but at least in my mind, are not a solution to what Feiss originally posted. I think time is the only solution, and I think we all need to stick our two cents in now and then to show that we're still all here, even if only occasionally.

Feiss said:
We've had a lot of new poets join the forum lately, and I think that it's totally wonderful. But, I feel like number of veteran poetry forum members and the frequency of their posting has gone down, and so the new poets who might just be starting out have a smaller pool of people to turn to for advice. If, when I'd started out writing poetry in this forum, I hadn't gotten those kind comments from Poetinahat, or KTC, or Godfather, or that heart-in-my-throat moment when I saw William Haskins had commented on my poem, if I hadn't gotten those comments and hundreds of others from wonderful poets, i would have stopped writing long ago.

Of course, there are many who are still here, and they offer wonderful poems and critiques, but I have to say that it's just not the same as when I first came to this forum.

When I joined, it was the highlight of my day, going onto poetry crit and reading a comment from somebody that totally illuminated something I'd missed in the poem.

Now, although I completely appreciate the shorter comments, I can't help but feel that my progress in my poetry is slowing because, put simply, a lot of our community has checked out. More importantly so, the progress of the new members' poetry will be affected, because many of them are just starting out and experimenting, they need in depth crits, and not one-liners, guys.

I realize that this petering out of participation has a lot to do with members' individual schedules and activities, and even more of it has to do with cynicism, general ennui, and petty bickering. But at the core of it, this community is great.

We offer support and advice to each other over something that is purely art and creativity. We help each other remake and perfect things. Time i spend here is time I spend not worrying about my job, or loneliness, or what the fuck is wrong with the world. It's time I spend to talk about art, time I spend feeling like someone out there understand me, and that is the value of poetry crit to me.

So I'm just saying, if you've left or you feel like you've outgrown this forum, don't give up, because poetry crit can still be great.

And please don't get pissed at me and think that I mean any of this as a personal attack against anybody. I could not be happier to know each and every one of the people I've met here.

We need to have a poetic Renaissance here

Norman D Gutter

Engineer Sonneteer

SirOtter

Il Cavaliere Marino

ajc

What do I know?

dobiwon

Planning to retire for the 5th time