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Unread 12-03-2014, 11:46 AM
Roger Slater Roger Slater is online now
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: New York
Posts: 16,720
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I haven't posted a poem here in quite some time, but when I did, I often would end up making no changes, or only minor changes. And there's nothing wrong with that. Posting a poem does not entail a promise to revise it, let alone to revise it along the lines of the comments received. Sometimes it's hard to know that you don't want to make any changes in a poem until you hear a bunch of people suggest changes that you think about and decide not to make. And when I offer critique, I am never offended if the poet rejects a comment I have made. It's not my poem, after all, and I would be uncomfortable offering suggestions if I thought they'd be automatically adopted. I don't want that kind of responsibility.

Just as a poet should never argue defensively with a critic, I think a critic should also refrain from arguing. As a critic, you have no personal stake in the final poem and no reasonable expectation that the poet will make changes to please you.