Honesty is important to the poet for at least two reasons. The first is that if she lets ideology or undue optimism color the way she reports her experiences, the truth content of the poem will be corrupted. The second is that the poet must be honest with herself, always evaluating what she writes and not letting wishful thinking stop her from improving the evolving work. “In every art, you have to be your own critic,” Domin says. “If you get up to a real good standard, you have to be
