Not all poetry feedback is equal, nor is it equally appreciated. It depends on what you write, who is offering the feedback, and the type of relationship you share.

I write poems about sex, sadness, and spirituality, thus my audience is broad and eclectic. I want to be read wildly by most everyone, except perhaps by my family, colleagues, neighbours, and acquaintances who may (read have) raised a few eyebrows at my work…

Evocative poetry, like all good art moves people. It changes their emotional state – usually from neutral or mellow, towards any extreme. This change isn’t always in the positive direction. Good horror will terrify you, a masterful comedy will have you in hysterics, and any existential thriller worth its salt will leave you questioning the very nature of reality and the people within it…

Poetry is just words on a page.

Anything beyond that definition risks falling into a philosophical or literary debate that would amount to such an abstraction of the beauty of the artform as to render it pointless. There are no rules. No restrictions. No limits to what you can and can’t, or to what you should and shouldn’t do.

A lot of this book will help you to hone that expression, giving you tips, tools, and tricks to make it more evocative. But that is all just make up and window dressing. Expression is the key. Some people gravitate towards rhymes and structure, others to free-flowing verse, others still, to long form paragraphs or books, crafting each line with meticulous care. It is all just writing. It is all just words on a page. It is all just poetry…