Workshop

So far workshop is going well. One aspect that I like about it is that we are actually receiving feedback and constructive criticism. All of the comments I've received, I've tried my best to apply them to the second poem I am working on for Round 2 of workshop. I think it's also helpful to hear the poems of other students because I get to see how distinctive or similiar other students are to me when it comes to writing poetry. I've picked up on the fact that I can trim fat from some of my lines to abstain from my poems sounding very "prose." One thing I've noticed is that many poems read are very dreary concerning topics like death and lost love. I don't know if students are doing this because they want their poems to be more complex but hearing a light poem from here to there would lighten up the mood a bit. I'm getting more immune to reading my work out loud because of workshop. Before workshop, I would be timid and not really want to read what I have because I thought it wasn't 'up to par" but I generally got back positive feedback and great corrections. One thing that can possible be done differently is have the speaker first explain what their stake in the poem is. I've noticed that this was a recurring issue with many poems during workshop. The other students and even the professor was unsure of where the speaker was going with his/her poem. If the student reads his/her poem then says what it is about then I think the feedback would be better just based off of that. Other than that, I think workshop is going well.