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So, serious question (directed at no one in particular): how do you approach critting a piece that is genuinely bad? Not bad in just one way, but fairly crappy in several areas (grammar, punctuation, format, accessibility of imagery, sonics, conceit, meter, etc). Where do you start?
I find it hard to distill the "essence de manure" into a reasonable word limit. Should I just stick with one flaw and go with it? How do you determine which errors are the most egregious?
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I usually erase more critiques on these sorts of poems than I post. I'm never sure if I'm getting to the heart of what I have against the poem. Most everyone starts by writing horrible poetry so I try to gauge what they may be able to successfully work on in this stage of their writing. If I give them too much it can become overwhelming and unhelpful. I tend to choose a few basic areas and address them. Eat the elephant one bite at a time.
The secret of poetry is cruelty.--Jon Anderson
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I'm always guessing, and second guessing, and there should be an all of the above vote
Peanut butter honey banana sandwiches
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(06-01-2017, 06:34 AM)CRNDLSM Wrote: I'm always guessing, and second guessing, and there should be an all of the above vote
You can choose more than one. 
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I comment on hen I think I have something useful or interesting to say.
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Ha, you and me crndl, could be any of those things, a combination or the weather. 
billy wrote:welcome to the site. make it your own, wear it like a well loved slipper and wear it out. ella pleads:please click forum titles for posting guidelines, important threads. New poet? Try Poetic DevicesandWard's Tips
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Just tell them they are very creative, and tell them painting might better suit them.
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I only crit poems which have at least one thing I like in them. If I hate everything about a poem, my only honest crit would be to abandon that poem and write something new, which isn't all that constructive, since if someone posts a poem there must be something in it that they like.
just mercedes
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If I can't unpack a poem I leave it alone. http://slideplayer.com/slide/6107874/
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(06-01-2017, 05:35 AM)Lizzie Wrote: So, serious question (directed at no one in particular): how do you approach critting a piece that is genuinely bad? Not bad in just one way, but fairly crappy in several areas (grammar, punctuation, format, accessibility of imagery, sonics, conceit, meter, etc). Where do you start?
I find it hard to distill the "essence de manure" into a reasonable word limit. Should I just stick with one flaw and go with it? How do you determine which errors are the most egregious?
Sometimes I just can't, can't use the energy or time to try to be constructive. But when I can, I'll crit if I can focus on one thing that seems right and at least one point where it seems the poem is trying to do something identifiable and I have a hope that something I say can help the poem get there.
We all start somewhere. When someone seems to have put the effort in to try it would be great if they could get some usable feedback. But nobody has to crit every poem, we can share the load.
(06-01-2017, 09:43 AM)just mercedes Wrote: If I can't unpack a poem I leave it alone. http://slideplayer.com/slide/6107874/
Solid link. I definitely crit sometimes before I unpack, usually if something seems so good I worry that it might be cut if I don't stand up for it or if something stands out as off and I have a clear idea of how it might be improved.
billy wrote:welcome to the site. make it your own, wear it like a well loved slipper and wear it out. ella pleads:please click forum titles for posting guidelines, important threads. New poet? Try Poetic DevicesandWard's Tips
just mercedes
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but what if only WE think it's bad?
maybe it will speak to someone else,
touch a heart or bless...shouldn't we
attempt to try, just the same?
there's always a better reason to love
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You can always try, but generally bad poetry is bad poetry.
I ran up the hill
To fuck Jill
But she would not fuck
cause she was with uncle chuck
I screamed like the suns rays
Beat down upon the earth.
Saw snarling old ms marry
I snuck a peek betwixt her skirt.
An example.
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(06-24-2017, 08:39 AM)QDeathstar Wrote: You can always try, but generally bad poetry is bad poetry.
...
An example.
Boult to Marina - Ernest Lalor Malley
Only a part of me shall triumph in this
(I am not Pericles)
Though I have your silken eyes to kiss
And maiden-knees
Part of me remains, wench, Boult-upright
The rest of me drops off into the night.
What would you have me do? Go to the wars?
There’s damned deceit
In these wounds, thrusts, shell-holes, of the cause
And I’m no cheat.
So blowing this lily as trumpet with my lips
I assert my original glory in the dark eclipse.
Sainted and schismatic would you be?
Four frowning bedposts
Will be the cliffs of your wind-thrummelled sea
Lady of these coasts,
Blown lily, surplice and stole of Mytilene,
You shall rest snug to-night and know what I mean.
- - -
a brightly colored fungus that grows in bark inclusions
just mercedes
Unregistered
(06-24-2017, 02:30 PM)rayheinrich Wrote: (06-24-2017, 08:39 AM)QDeathstar Wrote: You can always try, but generally bad poetry is bad poetry.
...
An example.
Boult to Marina - Ernest Lalor Malley
Only a part of me shall triumph in this
(I am not Pericles)
Though I have your silken eyes to kiss
And maiden-knees
Part of me remains, wench, Boult-upright
The rest of me drops off into the night.
What would you have me do? Go to the wars?
There’s damned deceit
In these wounds, thrusts, shell-holes, of the cause
And I’m no cheat.
So blowing this lily as trumpet with my lips
I assert my original glory in the dark eclipse.
Sainted and schismatic would you be?
Four frowning bedposts
Will be the cliffs of your wind-thrummelled sea
Lady of these coasts,
Blown lily, surplice and stole of Mytilene,
You shall rest snug to-night and know what I mean.
- - -
Angry Penguin Ern Malley? 
I entered a poetry contest here in NZ as Ern Malley. He came second.
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If the only humane course of action is to put the poem to sleep, then a compassionate link to http://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-17895.html is really the best pill the site has to offer terminally ill poems.
If your undies fer you've been smoking through em, don't peg em out
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If it weren't for high school and college and sites like this we would never read bad poetry, we'd only write it. I don't think anyone reads bad poetry otherwise unless they like it and consider it good. Any poem can be good if you like it.
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(06-25-2017, 04:24 AM)rowens Wrote: Any poem can be good if you like it.
nice, then any poem is good, cause it´s at least liked by one person
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People like Jewel but that doesn't mean she's a good poet.
Ok, so maybe I shouldn't have used the word "bad." How about "poorly executed from a technical and/or artistic perspective"?
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