An Editorial on the Shameless Parts of AP

It's interesting to me how many people post work on the Shameless page, wanting, and on occasion, begging for, comments and feedback. Most of the time, if you give them anything but ass-kissing, positive, lovey dovey nonsense, you will get immediately blasted. I don't tend to post my work there very often, because frankly, I write for myself. I don't write to be published and I don't write to attract friends or fans. The few times I have posted there, I didn't get quality feedback and thus, I don't feel the need to return. On the other hand, I do frequently read the work on that particular section of AP. Primarily, this is because I do sometimes find really good poets there but most of the time, it is to make myself feel better about my own skills. Sad but true.

I recently ran across a young person's work and found that although it did show promise, the ending was a disappointment and was rather distracting to the piece as a whole. The poem was about suicide and / or cutting. Unfortunately, as someone that has battled with both problems in the past, I was, admittedly, defensive. The ending of the poem seemed to smack of social irresponsibility and seemed to nearly poke fun at two very serious problems. I specifically notated that the comment was just my own personal thoughts and truly, thought no more about it. I read at least one more of the author's works and commented before moving on. Later in the day, I received a post back from her wherein I was told that I should “think” before commenting. Now, those AP writers that I comment frequently on would surely agree that I rarely if ever give them comments that are not well thought out and quite specific. This young lady lambasted me for giving her my honest opinion, in a forum in which she was requesting the very same. I immediately responded to her acknowledging that she'd ASKED for and received my honest opinion on her poems and gave her an open invitation to read and comment on any of my work.

I am not so conceited as to think that all my poetry is of the highest quality nor am I sensitive to the fact that I will receive less than positive feedback sometimes. In this country, there exists a highly reputed law of freedom of speech. I may not agree with the opinion and I may not opt to make the changes offered but I would never dare to impede anyone from expressing their thoughts. In fact, I invite and challenge my readers to be as honest as they can be when reading my poetry, understanding that the beauty of the written arts is that there is no way that everyone can identify with everything. I personally don't rhyme. I don't care for it & I have no skill in it. That doesn't mean that I don't have the utmost of respect for those that employ it in their own writing techniques. In fact, I have had lots of contests where rhyme was submitted, enjoyed and on occasion, rewarded.

I am just one of many faceless writers on this website that uses poetry to keep a handle on their sanity. But I am of the die-hard notion that if you ask for my opinion, you'd better be ready to take it, with a grain of salt, certainly, but be ready for it!