Workshop Reflection

I had a positive experience with workshopping. I enjoyed it. It’s always constructive to give and receive feedback during a creative process. Usually, however, i give and receive feedback as notes on a paper and this was the first time it ever became confrontational. I haven’t had much exposure to poems throughout my life-it’s probably the one style I don’t read much of-so it was hard to nit pick what worked and what didn’t. Some things that I found bothersome and unnecessary others claimed were these powerful techniques that only the greatest poetic writers used. This process gave me a better understanding of poetry as I could see it working right before my eyes. I enjoyed the way workshop was run as well. I found it easier to become comfortable with giving constructive feedback if the author knew what worked in their poem first. In the beginning, it was hard for me to criticize another person’s work. I felt like I was being mean. However, after my own revision process for my poem “Michael” I began to become unafraid of sharing my opinion. The editing of my own work was probably my favorite part of workshop. I actually liked hearing how others interpreted my piece. It’s interesting to me how different people will view the same thing. One person will see things in someone’s work that may be completely hidden to others. I thought I was being clear about what the “ivory curves” were, but the class had trouble understanding it. This goes to show how any art or expression of creativity is entirely subjective, and once it is exposed to the world, the artist has no control over how it will be received.