A poem that's only ever been read by you is a dangerous thing; you can only guess how another human being might react to it, and it's hard to stop all those imagined reactions bouncing around your brain. It must need further editing, because everything always does, but you've exhausted your capacity for constructive self criticism.
So, you plan for your poem to take it's first tentative steps into the world. But it's the summer holidays, so your tutor can't help you. Your friends and family are fabulous spell-checkers/cheerleaders, but they don't really read poetry. Should you post your poem on an internet forum and let every monkey with access to a keyboard have a crack at improving it? It works for some people, but I've had comments ranging from the patronising to the unfeasibly angry, (yes, angry that I'd written a poem they didn't like). It kept me awake at night. It wasn't worth it.
Whilst absentmindedly clicking around, I came across Fleeting Magazine's Clinic. For just £2 a poem, or £4 for 1000 words of fiction, they'll send you a reasoned, thought-provoking assessment of your work. If you seriously need to be persuaded to part with the money, here are some reasons you should...
1. Since the person who'll critique your work runs a literary ezine, it's fair to say they probably read a lot of contemporary poetry. This means they're much more likely to be able to place your work in that context, and understand what you're aiming for.
2. The comments are detailed and specific; line breaks, vocabulary, punctuation. Even if you disagreed with the overall interpretation, you'd probably benefit from some of the minor alterations.
3. The comments I received had an academic tone to them, which somehow made it easier for me to take them on board. I normally have trouble not taking comments personally, but I felt remarkably calm after reading these ones.
4. Lets face it, we all have fragile egos. We need buttering up before we read the line-by-line dissection. The Clinic butter you before they batter you, and I appreciate that.
Once you've had a think about the comments, you could even submit your poem to this competition they're running...
This looks interesting. I will probably give it a try.
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