07-08-2016, 10:37 AM
(07-08-2016, 06:11 AM)lizziep Wrote: I'd feel like my poem was not my own if I did this. I've certainly made changes I didn't like in order to make a poem better, but I have to agree that it will in some way better the outcome before I launch into a change. Sometimes I have a hard time re-conceptualizing in order to make edits and I can't do them eternally.ha, that's funny, i forgot about the old ego. yeah, that can get in the way, too, i suppose. i would only really finalise a poem [whatever that means in poetry world--maybe it means printing it, putting it in a draw, and forgetting about it] with suggested changes if i genuinely thought those changes made the poem better than i did with the original. i rarely, if ever, have any sentimental connection to what i write.
i don't quite understand what you mean about making changes you don't like in order to make a better poem. it's a bit like cooking a meal and someone saying, "add this, it'll make it taste better". either it makes it taste better and, therefore, you like it more, or it doesn't and you don't. adding something that makes something better but not liking it is like admitting one has bad taste or poor judgement. unless you meant you didn't initially like the suggestions but made them anyway and found the poem was improved.
anyway, of course, i'm not suggesting endless edits; but, if one has, say, 3 or 4 strong critiques that give very clear and practical suggestions for possible revisions, then i can't see what would prevent one from implementing all of the changes suggested [time permitting]. and i am talking specifically about here, on this website. i don't even see how the sentimental or egotistical connection to the poem should get in the way of what is a [hypothetically] infinitely changeable product. and this applies in Rowen's case, as well. to me, liking the faults in your poem and making edits on a website forum are not mutually exclusive concepts, as far as i'm concerned. you can do both. you can write a poem with the spelling all wrong, like it, post it, get told the spelling is all wrong, like the fact the spelling is all wrong but post an edit with the spelling corrected, anyway. you've lost nothing. you may have even gained something. a slightly less shit poem.