Critical Thoughts…

Being a poet is both the easiest and hardest thing in the world. Easy because it’s an entirely blank canvas for you to paint with words as you please. The ability to escape from reality as you please and the freedom to do it entirely your own way. And in my case, that’s the key thing. Entirely my OWN way.

The hard part is getting people to take you seriously. But then if you’re a true writer at heart with a poetic soul that dances in rhyme and the beauty of well placed words, does it actually matter if people take you seriously? This is only my opinion, my thoughts but I really don’t think it matters.

Critique is a word I keep coming across in my world of poetry and frankly it’s a word I hate. The very word itself suggests picking fault. But it’s shady. It almost sounds nice. It’s not. It’s a more polite way of saying “I’m going to criticise your poem and you’re going to be grateful for my thoughts!” Again, let me remind you these are merely my opinions.

As a person who writes and publicly shares poetry, I love feedback. I really do. I’ve received countless messages, emails, questions, cards, nice letters, people approaching me in the street and it inspires discussion. Feedback is wonderful. I even enjoy talking with someone who has hated something I’ve written because it provides another perspective on a subject and it keeps it real. People are, thankfully very different and see things very differently.

Anyway. Back to *that* word and my reasons for writing this. I write almost exclusively for myself. I write about my feelings, thoughts, hopes, fears and dreams. I write about my interpretation of love, of loss and of grief. And that alone is reason enough for me to have a strong dislike of this *critique* malarky. I have written from the heart. I have shared my vision of something that affects me deeply and without sounding full of myself, only I am qualified to decide whether that piece is worthy of sharing. No one can see within me or see it my way. I value opinion but if I was to change my writing to suit someone else’s thoughts then it’s no longer my vision.

Almost daily I see people sharing their poetry only to be shot down by some random on social media because it isn’t to their taste. They then never post a poem again. It’s sad. I spent most of my life being terrified of people’s thoughts on my writing. Was it good enough? Will people like it? Then I realised *I* like it. It reflected exactly where I was in the moment I wrote it and whether people like it or not really does not matter.

This is not a confidence thing. To be perfectly honest, I’m not that confident. I’m just a woman who writes and I have the same fears as any other writer/artist.

I regularly get asked to critique the poetry of others and I always refuse with pretty much the explanation I’ve just given about my own poetry. It’s where a person is in a particular moment and no one but them can translate that. And honestly, who am I, or anyone else for that matter to criticise? If I like something then I like it for what it is. If I can relate to it on a personal/emotional level then fine. If not, it’s no big deal because it wasn’t my moment. I appreciate beautifully written things even if I can’t relate to them. For example, I’m not a romantic person but something written beautifully about love never ceases to inspire.

My issue with all this is there’s masses of totally unknown talent out there. People who can take the mere 140 characters Twitter gives you and turn it into something that can sear your heart. The inspiration is infinite. Criticism is not required. There are too many critics. Can we not instead appreciate the time and thought behind the words rather than merely the words themselves. What they mean to you you may be worlds away from what they mean to the writer. It’s more about vision than anything. And remember, even a heartfelt sentence takes a LOT of courage to share. Blowing someone else’s candle out does not make yours shine any brighter.