Poetry Workshop

            The workshop really helped me realize the shortcomings of my poem since I was able to get feedback from many different people. Coming out of my writing bubble and having my poem criticized is a bit scary but it was rewarding, nonetheless. Having some of my favorite lines criticized or liked by many was nice since it showed that all opinions are valuable, even when they vary from person to person. When you’re writing a story-based poem it’s easy to leave out simple details because you already know the story in your head. Hearing criticism from other writers also allowed me understand the confusing or unclear aspects of my poem. Some of the lines that may have made sense to me while writing the poem may not necessarily make sense at a later date or my audience. After receiving feedback I was able to fix some of the issues by adding or removing lines. While writing I sometimes forget about the audience and being reminded of their existence caused me to rework some aspects of my poem. It's often easy to forget that you're not just writing for yourself, but for other people and the workshop helped me realize that. Reading the poem out loud also helped because I was able to correct any rhythmic or pacing issues with the overall poem. Even when reading a poem to yourself it is often easy to miss over a few issues. The workshop was a really good learning experience for me because I was able to understand the shortcomings of my work.