Sarah Takacs

I need criticism on pacing and tone; harsh, concrete criticism. I also seem to have forgotten how do write decent dialog--which is what you get when you read fairy-tales and short stories all the time rather than actual novels: a narrative.

I usually don't critique other people unless there's an agreement beforehand as to harshness, and even then I don't do poems. People view poems as this highly personal stuff, more autobiographical than stories, more "feeling" pieces--and get offended if I have anything to say about them regarding rhythm and word choice.

So I'll just put it here in my bio: I will not review your poem. I applaud your bravery at putting pen to paper and letting out pieces of yourself like a modern-day Pandora. I do. But the whole media of poetry seems to be flooded with a sense of self-importance, with histrionics and arbitrary
dropping
of
lines
and a general sense that BECAUSE you wrote it down, it's "deep" rather than the other way around. Maybe I've been ruined for the genre. Maybe I just don't get it. Your poem is probably quite good, honestly--I just won't review it.