04-01-2017, 04:53 AM
When you first start writing, there's always a good percentage of stuff that's pure cheese. It's because no matter how much poetry you've consumed yourself, your production is initially based on other people's ideas of what a poem ought to look like/ feel like/ sound like. Recognising this is a vital step and frankly, we see a lot of people come through here who refuse to accept that and just want to keep writing what they're writing without change because they're super amazing and we should love them lots.
So, you're already ahead of those tossers. Exposing your writing to a discerning audience, one that's seen an awful lot of what it doesn't ever want to see again and is excited by fresh ideas, is the best way to develop a voice that you can be proud of. Keep it yours. You don't need to accept everything a critic says -- because they're human, and subjective -- but listening to people whose opinions you value, or who you think are pretty awful but they maybe know a thing or two about poetry, is vital to improvement.
And give yourself a break. You will write bad stuff -- everyone does, even the best poets. Just don't let that define you, and never get too comfortable. Poetry is not a sport for the faint of heart
So, you're already ahead of those tossers. Exposing your writing to a discerning audience, one that's seen an awful lot of what it doesn't ever want to see again and is excited by fresh ideas, is the best way to develop a voice that you can be proud of. Keep it yours. You don't need to accept everything a critic says -- because they're human, and subjective -- but listening to people whose opinions you value, or who you think are pretty awful but they maybe know a thing or two about poetry, is vital to improvement.
And give yourself a break. You will write bad stuff -- everyone does, even the best poets. Just don't let that define you, and never get too comfortable. Poetry is not a sport for the faint of heart
It could be worse