Essay Review: Are Poetry Boards Good For Poetry, The antithesis of 'What do poets enjoy most at MM' Options

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hello all,

Rus from the IBPC has put forth a new email loop and link even as some of our members are still researching the first, "What do poets enjoy the most about your forums" at the link below.
What do our poets enjoy the most at MM?

In this new thread, we'll look at an antithesis to that one. Click into this article carried by an E-zine:
The Pee in the Pool of On Line Poetry, by Terreson

This article focuses on the questions posed at its start: Are poetry boards good for poetry?

Do the boards benefit poets, the new and inexperienced especially who, in most cases, are grappling with the vital stuff of finding an authentic voice, gaining confidence in themselves, working through the canon, trying to figure out if they have something essential to say, and all at the same time? Do the boards, viewed as communities, engender poetry whose language is also authentic or do they falsify the poetry experience? Another question comes to mind. Is even the notion of an online poetry community good for poetry? And maybe one last question. What impact on poets, and on poetry itself, do the parameters, the rules of conduct and the by-laws, of many boards have?

As we all strive to build a knowledge base of what makes a poetry forum work best for the poets who sign into our forums, let's also examine what we do that is not working.

Please share your own thoughts here.

I, for one, hesitated on posting this thread, but do agree with some of what the essay alludes to; SOME, not all as you'll soon read for yourself.

Cheers,
~Cleo

[Cleo_Serapis]

Thanks for your feedback, Linda.

I actually agree with some of what the article infers. Likewise, I also disagree with some of it.

To the inference that poetry communities have rarely produced first-rate poems, I disagree. I know many forum poets who have gone on to have their work published, both online and in print mediums. Are their works first-rate? I guess that question will always be open to interpretation and opinion, as everything in life is.

Does such a culture falsify the poetry experience?
I think there will be many conclusions drawn from this question. It depends on the (overwhelming) culture presented at each board. One needs to answer this question: Is it a vanity forum or a workshop, with a focus for improvement? From my own experiences, not only have I grown in my understanding of the art and all its diverse forms of expression, I've also come to appreciate the poetry, and the poets whose words have touched me emotionally so much more than I would have had I not been part of the forum experience. Of course, there will always be differences in culture. One needs to understand the inner purpose that drives them. Is it there to be a chatroom to make friends? A place to dish out 'atta-boys' to any poem posted no matter how good or bad it is? A culture that demonstrates a like-minded group whose intent is to further the experience by sharing the merits of form and rhythm and all the various tools a poet has at their discretion to express their message in the best way possible? A culture whose focus is solely on nailing down the metrics of a work with no thought given to how that interaction should occur? A culture that rips apart and often deletes threads/comments based on moderator's opinion, rather than the members? A culture where no formal rules are laid out so one can post anything, all the time?

I could go on but I hope you understand my point. For me, you get out what you put in. Demonstrate respect, dignity and a genuine interest in improvement, and hopefully, you'll get the same in return. In many ways, yes, friendships are made, some are lost too, and yes, admins and mods have a role: to make sure the rules of the forum are being followed - it's a bit of policing that must be done, to make the community fair and respectful for all members, especially those who truly have a desire to improve their writing and a willingness to help others improve theirs. If I went to a bookstore, pulled up a chair and started reading, I would gain a more rounded appreciation for the technical merits of poetry, but no where near to the level that I have achieved through online participation.

Common sense suggests that the critic is no more likely to know the nature of good poetry than is the poet. I know of no case in the history of literary criticism where a school of thought has not been superseded eventually by another or taken to task for what it failed to understand. And the suspicion becomes twofold: comments on a poem are often made only to satisfy a required number of commentaries in order to get a poem posted, and critics can, often do, comment in a compensatory, self-serving fashion, or with a bias that frequently disenables their perspective. Add to this the extent to which online critics often do not bother to ground themselves in both the canon of poetry and critical theory, and, again, question of motivation comes into play.

To this, I agree. In order to give an educated critique, one must KNOW THE SUBJECT MATTER. If you do not possess the understanding, say for example, of the parameters of a particular form that the poem was written in or its metrical style, familiarize yourself first before you offer your opinion. At a minimum, focus your efforts on the rhythmic patterns, rhyme schemes, any other poetic devices employed, imagery, content, logical order/flow etc. The poet will appreciate your commentary more if he/she feels you also learned something in the process.

There will always be a mix of both sincere and insincere readers. As the essay points out, one will find those who are clearly devoted to the disciplines of poetry, who possess both the instinct and the hunger for it. At the other spectrum, one will also find those who post responses to poems in a complimentary and generic fashion; products of false praise and encouragement without the supporting evidence of talent and ability. "If poetry is to be taken seriously the inflationary effect of the unwarranted compliment becomes a serious problem."

~Cleo