Hi.

I’m not a poet, in any sense of the word. I’ve never paid attention to that section of English class. I’ve always preferred to write in prose because that is how my brain works. Also, one of my pet peeves is awkwardly rhyming verse (watch, I’ll show you exactly what I mean in at least one of my own pieces), and as that is all I ever read for years growing up, I had a very skewed idea of what poetry was for years. However, I have recently read several very beautiful poems that have convinced me that poetry can be a good way to express emotions.

So this is an experiment: I’d like to learn how to write poetry. And I’d really like it if you would read my attempts and give me constructive criticism on how to improve. I know from past experience that this community is really good at giving advice to novice writers. Please, please help me!

Thank you very much,

Isabelle

Just so you know - I had a lot more poems on here, but the person they were about has informed me that he feels uncomfortable with having poems about him on the internet. I feel like I should respect that, and so I took down around 20 pieces. So . . . now the balance is a little bit off and there are a lot more angsty poems about my personal problems than happy ones or even just neutral ones. Just so you know, I guess - I actually have a pretty good life. It's just that I tend to be more inspired to write when I'm upset. Also, I feel like some of the ones I took down were good - better than the ones that are on here now :( Maybe someday I'll be able to publish them again, but for now, I've got to respect other people's privacy. So I'm sorry if any of your favorites are missing.