[Tzemach Aryeh]

Originally Posted by Jayne Osborn

Just don't get bogged down reading others' poems at the expense of penning some of your own!

The first critique ever given to me, by a college roommate, was that a good writer reads more than he writes. That roommate had no social filters at all, so I don't know how he managed something so polite, but I've found his advice helpful at every stage of my journey. I think the only advice I've found more helpful was to memorize and recite poetry.

But worry not, I have two poems ready for posting once I get in some critiques of others' work.

[Kevin Rainbow]

I just started writing again, which means I need to start reading again.

Why did you (have to?) stop reading?

.

[Chris O'Carroll]

Susan McLean provided a good list of contemporary formal poets to help you get (re)started. You should also have a look at Susan's own original work and translations.

Mezzo Cammin, devoted to formal poetry by women, is one journal you might want to look at.

http://www.mezzocammin.com/

The sonnet journal 14 by 14 ceased publishing several years ago, but their archives make good reading to this day.

http://www.14by14.com/

The print journal Measure has given way to the online Measure Review.

https://measurereview.org/

No doubt those zines will lead to to others.

[Susan McLean]

The other things that would be helpful in order to give you the best recommendations for reading, Tzemach, would be to know something about the kinds of subjects you enjoy reading about, or the poetic forms that please you most. Do you most enjoy sonnets, villanelles, blank verse, limericks, long poems, or short ones? Are you interested in history, philosophy, religion, art, nature, people, any particular subgroup? There are many different formalists, and they tend to have their favorite forms and subjects.

Susan

[Tzemach Aryeh]

@Chris: Thank you for those links, the last two sound very appropriate.

Originally Posted by Susan McLean

The other things that would be helpful in order to give you the best recommendations for reading, Tzemach, would be to know something about the kinds of subjects you enjoy reading about, or the poetic forms that please you most. Do you most enjoy sonnets, villanelles, blank verse, limericks, long poems, or short ones? Are you interested in history, philosophy, religion, art, nature, people, any particular subgroup? There are many different formalists, and they tend to have their favorite forms and subjects.

As a writer, sonnets interest me the most, but as a reader my only preference would be for poems which are short enough to memorize. I like being able to hold a whole poem in my consciousness at once.

As far as subject matter, I have a small preference for non-confessional poetry, but that's about it.

[Andrew Mandelbaum]

PFFA is run by one of the most caustic morons in internet poetryland. Or it was, up until a year ago when I last checked. Some good folks on there but the jerk at the top really ruins it. Of topic but no charge for this important safety reminder. You are better off here unless that has changed.

[Susan McLean]

Tzemach, most of the names I have already mentioned have some excellent sonnets. The sonnet is probably the most common fixed form in poetry today. If you like short satirical poems, The Asses of Parnassus specializes in those: https://assesofparnassus.tumblr.com/

I find that funny poems are often the easiest to memorize. Of the names that I have mentioned, some of the especially funny ones include Gail White, Melissa Balmain, Julie Kane, A.M. Juster, and some others would be Chris O'Carroll, J.D. Smith, Ed Conti, Jayne Osborn, and many of the names you will see right here on the forum Drills and Amusements.

Susan

[W T Clark]

Andrew,
I am a new member both here and at PFFA, and being so new to Internet poetry generally I am sure that you are both more experienced than I, and are more knowledgeable about the subjects, however I must stand up for PFFA. PFFA is run by moderators that encourage a high level of critique (and no matter your hatred / disagreement with either Howardm2 or John Boddie) I disagree with you that it is worse than Eratosphere. The critical knowledge of many of the members is very high, and if you wish to get your poems examined and critiqued in a high level forum, than Pffa and Eratosphere are both as good as each other, though each has different strengths.

If I were to comment, I would only advise joining both sites.

[Julie Steiner]

Some might be interested in this list of places where I verified that M.A. Griffiths had workshopped poems (often workshopping the same poem in three or four different venues) between 1999 and 2008:

• Burgundy
• Capriole
• The Desert Moon Review (workshop affiliated with Crescent Moon Journal)
• Dr. Whup-Ass’s Bitch-Ass Poetry Round-Up
• Eratosphere (workshop affiliated with the magazine Able Muse)
• The Gazebo (workshop affiliated with The Alsop Review)
• P.F.F.A. – The Poetry Free-for-All (at Everypoet.com)
• P.O.E.M.S. Place
• The Pennine Poetry Works (THE-WORKS on JISCMail)
• Poetry.etc
• Poetry Kingdom
• The private list affiliated with The Poetry Kit
• POETRY-W (a LISTSERV resource hosted by Penn State)
• Sonnet Central / The Sonnet Board
• Yahoo! Groups affiliated with the World Haiku Club:
  • WHCpoetrybridge
  • WHCsenryu
  • WHCshortverses
  • WHCvanguard

Most of these are now defunct. Some have at least partial archives in the Internet Wayback Machine (which is where I found some of the above).

[Kevin Rainbow]

WTC,


I agree PFFA is fine site. That's why (as Andrew seemed to point out), it is such a shame that the behaviour of its moderators has a trackrecord of being rude and obnoxious. Thankfully, it looks like they are mellowing out with old age.