  Poetry
This week: Poetry: Truth or Fiction? Edited by: Crys-not really here  
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| Welcome to this week's Poetry Newsletter! I'm Crys-not really here , and I am your enthusiastic guest editor this week. In this newsletter, I explore one of my biggest pet peeves about poetry! |
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Poetry: Truth or Fiction?
One of my biggest pet peeves is when a reader assumes that a work of fiction is real. I've seen it happen numerous times, both in reviews here on WDC and in critique groups. "Oh, I am so sorry this happened to you!" people often say. Or, "I hope you get yourself out of this abusive relation fast!" While readers mean well, they fail to realize that fiction is called fiction for a reason. Some fiction is written based on real-life events or people, but much of it is completely made up by the author. In some cases here on WDC, it's just a matter of a reviewer not paying attention to what genre the author has listed their item under.
My pet peeve holds especially true for poetry. Although many of us do write poetry from personal experience, often as a way to deal with our emotions, not all poetry is written from the point of view of the poet. It is never safe to assume that the speaker of the poem is the author. Even if the poem is in the first person, that doesn't mean that the poet has lived and experienced the things going on in the poem.
Take persona poems, for example. Persona poems are purposely written in a voice of a character other than the poet. Sometimes the reader can distinguish a persona poem by the fact that it's obviously from the point of view of a famous historical character, such as a US president. Other times, it might not be so obvious. When a poet writes about an instance of domestic violence, he or she may have experienced that violence, or he or she may simply be writing about an experience of a friend, co-worker, or someone on the TV news. It may be completely fictional, with no real-life source. Unless the reader personally knows that poet well, he or she may never know.
Here on WDC, where we can hide behind anonymous suitcases, it can be especially difficult to distinguish fact from fiction in poetry. That's why I encourage all readers to err on the side of caution. Unless something is labeled as "non-fiction," assume that it's not, or assume that the poet doesn't want you to know if the poem is factual.
Most people I know wouldn't read a poem by Ted Kooser or Maya Angelou or any other widely-known and published poet and immediately write him or her a letter saying things like, "Thank goodness you beat cancer!" or "I'm sorry you lost your mother at such a young age," unless those are widely known facts about the poet. So why would you do that for a poet you don't even know?
Many of us write poetry to purge emotions and deal with difficult situations. In fact, many teenage and less experienced poets exclusively do so. However, it is a sign of a truly talented poet who can take on a different persona in his or her writing, or even leave you wondering what is real and what is fiction.
When you review a poem, instead of offering advice to the poet about personal matters, try telling the poet how the poem makes you feel. Nine times out of ten, the poet will be pleased to hear that the poem made you feel something intense, even if it wasn't the intended emotion. |
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This is awesome because my daughter was born on April 2nd this National Poetry Month, so I dedicated a poem to her- .
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I always love to hear what you have to say about Poetry! Don't be shy- write in with your comments and questions! I'll be guest editing the Poetry Newsletter again on June 5th, and I'll feature some of your comments then. As a friendly reminder, the form to submit feedback is below, at the bottom of the newsletter.  If you email me instead, I may forget about it when it comes time to write the next newsletter. Thanks! |
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Poetry: May 22, 2013 Issue [#5682]
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