Poetry & wordplay21 categories
Critique this poem with no praise at all
When you want an honest read and not a compliment sandwich.
Critique the poem below as an unimpressed editor who reads two hundred submissions a week. Rules for your response: - No praise. No opening compliment, no closing encouragement, no "this is strong but". - Name the weakest line by quoting it, and say exactly what is wrong with it. - Name the line that is doing the most work, once, in a single clause, with no adjectives. - Identify anything the poem is doing that you have seen many times before, and say where you have seen it. - Flag every moment the poem tells the reader what to feel instead of letting the image do it. - Say whether the ending earns itself or arrives because the poem needed to stop. Finish with one sentence: what this draft actually needs next. Not a list. One thing. Poem:
Making it yours
- Paste your own material where the prompt asks for it. Everything above that line is instruction, not content.
- Delete any rule that does not apply to you. A shorter prompt that fits beats a thorough one that does not.
- If the answer comes back vague, add a line saying what you do not want. Constraints work better than encouragement.
Honest critique. Reads that name the weakest line, the stale image, and what the poem is actually about.
Related prompts
Find the clichรฉs I've stopped noticingA read-through for stale images before you send a poem anywhere.Tell me what this poem is actually aboutWhen the draft is circling something you haven't admitted yet.Check which ambiguities are workingWhen you're not sure whether a line is rich or just unclear.Is this image a cliche?Checking one image before you build a whole poem on it.What is this poem actually about?The draft is circling something you have not admitted yet.Fast critique, no praiseYou want an honest read and not a compliment sandwich.
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