Thoughts on Upcoming Workshop

As Tuesday rolls closer I have been thinking more about this upcoming workshop session, I must admit I have been thinking harder about the entire workshoping process as well. While, personally I love the idea of the class splitting up into small groups to discuss and review each other’s poetry and the techniques we used. However, I still feel that some aspects of the workshop could be more efficient, namely the workshop checklists. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not attacking the checklists because they are forms of homework, or even because they take time. The real reason I point them out is because of their efficiency and usefulness when compared to the time that goes into them.

Ultimately, I think the workshop checklists are great in theory, I think it’s crucial to read each other’s poems with a keen eye, open mind, and ready pen. But still it seems (at least to me) that the workshop checklists are too geared for discussing every aching detail of a poem no matter how long it is, or if it is one of many. While the numerous questions on the details of a poem maybe just too important to cut down on, the truth is almost everyone in the class prefers reaching a 42 line poem requirement with multiple poems. And when your spending over an hour an half doing one person’s checklist because they have several good poems, (knowing in the end that only a tenth of that time will be discussing the important aspects of what you wrote) it can seem a little frustrating.

To recap, I think workshops are an awesome tool for improving our poetry, and I full heartedly agree that the checklists are important aids in helping them run smoothly, I just believe there should be a more effective way of completing them for author who has multiple poems.