I find reviewing poetry hard, because, depending on my mood, I'm too willing to see the good or bad splashes in a pamphlet, going 'yay' too much in a pamphlet I don't care about, or canning an interesting collection for hitting too many pet peeves. Reviews quickly descend into the sort of middling, C- level essays I used to turn out almost without free will in university, analysing the life out of any visible themes, instead of thinking 'hmm, should people buy this? People who aren't me – I know they exist. Somewhere. And they probably don't suck at reviewing.'
1 comment:
Seriously, reviewing poetry is one of the hardest things in the history of ever. Which is probably why I stick to reviewing novels at my blog -- there are so many ways to review a story without over-analyzing form and theme and all that jazz. Put poetry pamphlets? That's sort of the point. If I like a poetry mag or collection, I usually just say "Buy this. It is awesome."
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