The Importance of Feedback
I have recently put some of my poems in the hands of a peer. Doing this is crucial in order to keep progressing as a poet. As a writing teacher, I give feedback constantly, but rarely do I get to be in the position of receiving much needed feedback on my own work. To truly see a poem with the eyes of an observer and spot the problems, or weaknesses, one has to be “outside” of them, and as I have been writing feverishly to meet the chapbook deadlines that are approaching (they begin in April and continue steadily until next December), I am far from being in the place that Hemingway recommends one needs to be to edit one’s pieces, which is to put the work in a drawer for 6 months and attack it with fresh eyes later. My eyes are not fresh–I have been swimming in these 40 poems. Without the luxury of time, I am relying on the experience and distance of a fellow poet and writing teacher. Of course, you might suggest, I could always put the pieces in a drawer and submit the work for next year’s chapbook publication deadlines, but I feel that letting go of this work, pushing it out into the world while I am fired up about it, is the way I need to proceed to keep moving forward as a poet. Holding onto work for years has been my m.o., and while it helped me grow in my private relationship with writing poetry, I feel that it is time to learn to let. the. poems. go. P.S. Don’t let balloons go. They hurt birds or other animals or something like that. I just like the cheesy symbolism of the picture, ok?