Greetings all!
My name is Miriam and I’m the moderator for this blog. I say moderator instead of author because, unlike most blogs that showcase the writing and/or visuals of one primary creator, this blog will be comprised of EVERYONE’S words, everyone’s poems, everyone’s feedback on each others’ poems (and the works of others, as time goes on).
There are no real rules here other than we treat each other with respect and consideration, period. What does that mean? Well, that can be hard in the world of poetry, which is both an intensely personal world AND an intensely craft-oriented world. So, for example, it does NOT mean we uniformly praise everything that comes through from all of us. We would never improve, never learn how to be better poets, if all we heard about whatever we posted was “great job” and “good work.”
On the other hand, harsh criticism won’t help us improve either. Telling someone their poem “sucks” is not only unnecessarily mean, but unhelpful. Instead, tell the poet what works and what doesn’t — and if you tell a poet that something doesn’t work, tell him or her what could be done better!
These are the things that make up constructive criticism, helpful feedback. When I post my work to a group, I want the people to be very specific about what works, what doesn’t, and what might help to fix the parts that do not work. I don’t need to hear that I’m a great poet, but I also don’t need to hear that I should destroy my computer either.
Hope that makes sense. To be honest, giving useful, constructive feedback is almost as challenging as writing a good poem; and, in fact, it helps us be better poets, to read what others write, see what is and is not effective, and come up with suggestions for improvements.
I think I’ve rambled on enough here, so I’ll end by saying I’m excited to be here and especially excited to see who else will join the WebPoets!
Don’t be shy. :-) AND if you have questions, just ask!
Miriam
Welcome all!