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Unread 12-03-2014, 06:27 PM
Roger Slater Roger Slater is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: New York
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The idea that poets who post their poems are under an obligation to agree with the crits they receive, and to revise accordingly, is absolutely ridiculous. I mean, it's completely off the wall, and I find it astounding that you have started a thread to complain that poets have failed in their duty to do whatever the critics command them to do. I mean, huh? Are you actually serious? Really? If I post a poem, I am breaking a rule if I don't immediately adopt a suggestion posted in a comment? Really? That's absurd.

I suppose you find it hard to believe that someone who posts a poem and doesn't immediately comply with critical suggestions ever had a sufficiently open mind about revision to justify posting, but I can't see why it's such a hard concept to accept that sometimes a poet may wish to subject a poem he or she likes to critical scrutiny and may thereupon determine that the poem is fine the way it is, or with minor revisions. There's a difference between being willing to revise and feeling obligated to revise.

I get the sense that you are personally offended when a poet doesn't accept your suggestions for revision, and that's at the heart of your complaint, but if I'm right, all I can say is get over it. It's not about you. Asking someone for critique is not the same thing as inviting them to be a co-author of what you have written. And the idea that you would question the motives or bona fides of a poet just because he or she might not adopt your brilliant insights is not appealing.