In my writers' group there is a member who occasionally submits poetry for critique. Frequently, the response to a poem submitted for critique (not just in my group, but in any writing group) is low or is prefaced with "I don't know much about poetry..." which can be kind of disheartening. Instead of giving up, C decided that if she is going to get more critiques she needs to help the other members be more comfortable with critiquing poetry. After all, it's just another genre, but there are mental blocks in place for a lot of us. And I agree with her.

I never, ever read Romance, Christian lit, or gory horror for enjoyment, yet I don't hesitate to critique them for my group. Yes, they follow the same rules as other prose genres, but they are still areas I'm not overly familiar with and don't usually enjoy. I have to set my prejudices aside in order to give a helpful critique to the authors. Poetry is similar with a couple significant differences.

Poetry critiquing is hard for me, partially because I don't read or write it, partially because feel like so much more emotion goes into poetry than prose from the writer's perspective, but also because I find beautiful language enjoyable on its own.  I can get lost in the language and not notice that I don't know what the poem "means". The rhythm and rhyme can carry me away and I finish reading with a smile on my face even if the poem doesn't tell me what the author wanted.

She thanked me for always trying to critique her poems and for trying to help her teach the group. (I found some guidelines for critiquing poetry and posted them to the group then commented on how I had used them to create what I hoped was a helpful critique.) I had to admit that my reasons were partially out of guilt and partially selfish. See, if a poet is going to take the time to write these lines and brave presenting them to the group, then I feel like I owe it to her to at least try to critique her work just like I would any short story submitted. Besides, I expect her to critique my crappy prose. That's the guilt part.

The selfish reason is that poets are masters of evocation and imagery. They use language in a way that most prose writers don't normally (especially beginning ones like me). I figure if I can learn by recognizing how a poet's words affect me and how that differs from the effect she intended, I will be a much better writer.

To me, a prose writer is a storyteller telling a tale with words. A poet is a painter and composer using words to create a melody of images.

The best writers are both. I want to be that.

And I think I've utterly failed in the composition of this post. Geez, can I ramble?