First off, there’s GotPoetry Live tonight in Providence with Sam Grabelle making a return visit to her old stomping grounds, along with Gary Mercure on guitar. 8-10 at Blue State Coffee in Providence. Be there.
On an extended note…I’ve been spending more time at the Gotpoetry.com website recently, reading and thinking about poetry in the Workshop Forums.
While the site continues to have a high percentage of newbies, and while critique is still a difficult thing there (we’ve still got way too many people on the site who are at that "how can you say this is a bad poem, it REALLY HAPPENED TO ME AND I FEEL IT DEEPLY" level of reaction, and too many people who say "this is a great poem because I can see it was hard for you and how much you FELT IT"), it’s slowly beginning to develop back toward a more serious place for critique in some random corners, and there are some poets beginning to work toward higher levels of craft.
I wish I could get more people who understood how to give good critique to newbies on the site. I know we’re all busy, but it’s such a humongous resource with such possibilities and tools available, I hate seeing it go to waste. I’d like to think it’s got room for everyone from the hobbyist writiing poems about his kitty to more serious poets engaging in dialogue on issues of craft.
If you haven’t been by in a while, or if you feel the slightest inclination to check it out and offer even the occasional hand in making that happen, I’d appreciate it. I no longer have any staff status on the site, so this is an unofficial request by any definition. Still, I’d love to see you there and would love to try and bump up the level. There are some new folks who would love it.
Dark Matter 
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