07-10-2016, 07:53 AM
(07-10-2016, 07:13 AM)rowens Wrote: The difference is that the poet who gets critiqued has to live with his or her bad reviews, and that humiliation is vital. And in a workshop, not all workshops, but I like to generalize, poets can get the sense that it's ok to bring something sub par to the table, because that's what everyone else is doing.
I know that the connection between poet friends and the way they influence each other's work is an aesthetic pleasure in its self. Its self. And I appreciate Deleuze and Guattari as much as Penman. I just still prefer reading the work of the individual.
when people occasionally call me penman, nowadays, it reminds me of being at school and the teachers going "penman, get out of my class!" or whatever admonition it happened to be that day.anyway, write and edit how you like. the fact is, it is pretty clear that none of us are poetic geniuses, so if you want to reinforce your insecurities by being an island then fill your boots. but for the rest of us, it would seem, there is an understanding that due to the realisation that we are not the next Joyce or Rimbaud, maybe we can at least get better by a very simple and practical process of critique and edit. my only suggestion has been, be confident enough in yourself to make edits based on the advice of others [not always definitive, of course--the edits may be entirely experimental]. especially when the consequences can only be positive [or nil]. if posting an edit based on others suggestions on a small [sorry to say] insignificant* website is too much for your fragile ego, then maybe poetry isn't for you. because it is going to be brutal.
*just to be sure, i mean insignificant in relation to the insignificance of what you post. this isn't a publication deal. it's not going on your permanent record at the department of poetry.