The Poets' Graves Workshop

Urgh. Force of fascination lead me to look up McNish's twitter, in particular in circle jerk surrounding her tweet of her response. Wish I hadn't. It's actually maddening and just proves some of the points of the original article. Makes me a lot less sympathetic to McNish as well, if those are the v...

https://holliepoetry.com/2014/11/25/a-poem-about-bums/ :lol: Anyway my two cents. Having read the article and McNish's response - yes she is terrible, but no she isn't out to hoodwink people. People actually do like this stuff, they like the accessibility and no having to think, work out or digest t...

This is interesting. McNish's response to the article:

https://holliepoetry.com/2018/01/21/pn-review/

Warning: it's not a comfortable read.

I enjoyed reading this for what it is. It's flawed and some of the critiques are valid, but I found it easy to follow and it bounced along well. My main grip is how on earth can it be a "silent" wood if there are injured birds and guns going off all over the place. :lol: I'd also cut the following v...

Liked this a lot Luce. I feel a lot of empathy for both parties in an unhappy marriage "staying together" for the kids. Flowed well. Some beautiful imagery. My only critique is the last line. Didn't quite work for me. I think, and I may be overstretching here being an amateur when it comes to this, ...

Interesting comment about the first/second/third person.some of the early drafts were 3rd person but I felt the poem had a greater visceral impact - particularly in the last line - in 1st person. Please, take it as a given in all my poems that N. Is a fictional character. I rarely write poems where ...

Hi ft, I liked: Drawn to the mystery of arts great pool to seek surface reflection that was him, polluted it with teardrops from a fool who found its crystal depths too dark to swim. The revision: Drawn to the mystery of arts great pool to seek surface reflection seen but dim, polluted it with bile ...

Not sure if this belong in poetry exercises or here, but I found it quite interesting and fun to take an existing classic poem "Epitaph on a Tyrant", and keep the rhyme scheme and meter relatively intact while changing a little of the content to create a new work. Original below as well so you don'...

Revision up!

I liked this a lot.

The onomatopoeia throughout was impressive and humorous, as well as the rhyme scheme. The whole thing hangs together really well.

Hi, Late to the party but enjoyed this one. I liked the rhyme scheme and the alliteration throughout - helped it skip along at a good pace and it way a joy to read. IMHO the ending is slightly weaker than the rest - I'd kind of prefer it to end on the "Diary of a Country Parson" line, as in earlier ...

Really liked this one. Rhyme scheme is tight and works well and I for one appreciated the religious overtones - which I think really work because they are understated. Makes me think of the famous T.S. Eliot Christmas poems, "The Cultivation of Christmas Trees" and "Journey of the Magi", although th...

Luce, Thanks for the input, I'll post a revision soon. Yes you are in the correct ballpark - There's an allusion in the title and final line that may have gone over some people's heads "Finding people near you" is actually the line on the loading screen of the Tinder app. For those unfamiliar with t...

Perhaps more about reading verse than writing it (though of course they feed into each other), but if you are a relative newbie at metered verse - I just found this site which I find interesting, entertaining and useful: http://prosody.lib.virginia.edu/

Finding People Near You (Revision 1) Is it right I swipe? Personality unfolds as a banterous lad or pious bookworm depending on taste. It is agony to be left. So I kindle the feeling yes, of lust - but still more of being interesting - an essential part. The bored I entertain or I vanish into the s...

Really enjoyed this.

As others have said it's a real achievement to write a formal sonnet without it being contrived and it actually being enjoyable.

Good reversal on the ending.

Heya,

Like ray I found the second part easier to follow. Though the imagery of the first part I still found pleasing and came together for me with the second part.

The final image of the forest I particularly enjoyed.

Civil strife, statues being smashed - this is agitant material isn't it?

Hey folks. Thanks everyone for their insight and comments. It's what I come here for and I appreciate the effort everyone has put in. JJ, thanks you. Luce - thanks for another detailed crit. Good suggestions all - I've taken on board some where the "restitching" of the poem would not be too arduous....

Many thanks for the detailed response Not. Much appreciated. I'll post another revision soon. I'll definitely get rid of the capitals, not even sure why I did that! As for the religious elements, they were not intended to confuse. I think sociological case can be made for psychology and psychiatry, ...

See original post for the revision.

Thanks everyone for your input. Yes, I agree this poem is has good subject that could use some more work. Pauline, yes - I will try and do that. Thank you for rewriting it, though some of the meaning is lost, it gives me a greater understanding of where I can go with it. NotQuiteSure - again, good i...

Interesting interview. Especially how the interviewer is, from where I was sitting, posing the question "do you feel bad for a work that perpetuates stereotypes of the mentally ill as inherently violent" but then goes along when hitchcock answers a different question altogether, that of his art caus...

Enjoyed,

Nice one.

Although it is a pet peeve of mine when people quote Hamlet's "For nothing is either good or bad but thinking makes it so" out of context without realising the speaker was being bitterly ironic. In this context I think it is quite apt. Some of the best poetry is written from the point of view of wic...

Hi,

I preferred the revision. Mostly because it seemed jumpier with the smaller lines, which I think fits in better with the story where there is a lot of movement.