Simplicity in Poetry

[ellajam]

As far as morality plays go, that movie isn't half bad.
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As to the audience discussion:

Where does revising your poem in response to workshop criticism fit into all this?

Ah, that is one of the things that I have been learning here, how not to over-write towards your, my, audience. It's a delicate balance to appreciate and play with their responses but not lose my own voice.

A practiced critic doesn't try to mold the poem to their own view but tries to help the poet perfect their own voice. A practiced poet trolls the critique and makes changes that hone the poem without bending it so much that it becomes something else. Or, sometimes, springs off in a different, sometimes better, direction.

Giving and receiving critique are learned skills, executed with mutual respect they can make a poem shine without becoming more the audience than the original voice.