Poetry Talk

Welcome to my Poet Lady Chat Room. I would like to invite you to click on the chat box and type in a question, a suggestion, submit a poem, in other words – “chat with me.” I may, if you submit a poem, decide to feature it in my Poem of the Week section or, we may simply exchange ideas and suggestions about your poem.

This is a place to “talk” poetry with someone who has loved it all her life. I have a true passion for the possibilities of poetry and would love to hear your thoughts and/or read your poem. I will be happy to offer my reaction to your work and, based on over 40 years of teaching poetry, organizing, and conducting poetry workshops, working as a book review editor for an international poetry magazine, authoring five books of poetry and two textbooks on teaching poetry, send along my thoughts on ways to make your poem stronger and more impactful.

If you’re on my site, you have a connection to poetry. Feel free to connect with me – right here -right now, by typing your message into the “chat box” and clicking send. I’m waiting…

 

Your friend in poetry, Susan

FEATURED POEM
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Had to be said.. (1 reply and 1 comment)

Writerin_closet
3 years ago
Writerin_closet 3 years ago

Disdain me but
Behind the curtain
I look
Not as a puppet master
But a concerned bystander you loathe
I only cheer behind the curtain
With all my adoration for you
Like I said previously
My life resides in you 

                            ~writerin_closet

 

Susan Katz
3 years ago
Susan Katz 3 years ago

Thank you so very much for sharing this very emotional, and intensely felt, poem with me.  I like the consistent tone, the rhythm (though I have a couple of suggestions there) and the message.  There is something wonderfully noble about the "me" in this poem. 

Disdain me but
Behind the curtain
I look                                                          ( lovely, tight rhythm here!)
Not as a puppet master                             (do you need the "a" here?)
But a concerned bystander you loathe     ( I would love to see you "tighten this line)
I only cheer behind the curtain                 (do you need "only?")
With all my adoration for you                   (do you need "with?")
Like I said previously          (this is more a declaration than a line in a poem - do you need it - just eliminating it and moving right to your next line would tighten your poem and take it to a quicker, more dramatic ending.  In poetry, "less is more" - think of the poem as a fist - the story as the open hand.)

My life resides in you (nice!)

Your poem is powerful because you have committed emotionally to it.  I think, as well, that it is very well written and, my suggestions (and they are just that, suggestions) attempt to take your poem into a more poetic consciousness.  Disregard them if they do not resonate with you.

Again, thank you for trusting me with your poem, Susan

Writerin_closet
3 years ago

Thank you for patiently reading through my poem again...tried to update to what you said

Disdain me but
Behind the curtain
I look
Not as puppet master
But Concerned you loathe
I cheer behind curtain
With all my adoration
My life resides in you

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