Hello Margaret, Well I suppose it depends how seriously each poet takes 
their work and how sensitive the poet is. Me, I know I am never going to hit 
the headlines with my poems but do enjoy writing and sharing my work with 
others. Sometimes I do cringe I will admit when crits are too damming. If it 
is constructive I don't mind as this is a workshop and the poems are usually 
first drafts anyway. Personally I would like the comments not to be too  
severe as I like the communication and the enjoyment of writing not to be 
overtaken by too much academia. I like a bit of humour to creep in 
occasionally too.
I did an MA in Creative writing a few years ago and the tutor was so severe 
I struggled to finish and felt like I was in a literary strait jacket. I was 
the only one in my group to actually finish. The tutor did not seem to 
recognise the differances in writers and that the subject matter varied as 
much as our personalties. The tutors seemed to want us to be clones of 
themselves.
Some people thrive of strong crits others do not and take them too much to 
heart and it can deter them from ever writing again. Which did happen in the 
group I was in.
I prefer the gentle approach but not too gentle though sometimes I do need a 
kick up the backside.  I did wonder why the Works seemed to be silent for a 
while and I have to admit I did sign on with another list as well as I need 
my daily fix of poetry.
Best wishes Sally J



>From: grasshopper <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: New sub: Party Piece - Gill
>Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2006 05:38:25 -0000
>
>Dear Gill,
>Welcome to the list, and thanks for your comments on this poem.
>I appreciate the difficulty in joining a new list--I don't know if it's of 
>any use (you may already know) but you can read the archives on the 
>jiscmail website to get more of a sense of what happens here.
>http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=the-works&D=0&H=0&O=T&T=0
>
>Actually, I think it would be a good discussion topic--what do members 
>expect in terms of critique when they post poems to this list? I'm used to 
>some pretty tough boards, so I often feel my crits are harsher than the 
>norm here, but I feel tough critique has always been the most useful for 
>me. Others, of course, prefer gentler comments.
>
>What does everyone think?
>
>Kind regards,
>Margaret
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Gill MCEVOY
>   To: [log in to unmask]
>   Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 12:51 PM
>   Subject: Re: [THE-WORKS] New sub: Party Piece
>
>
>   Dear "grasshopper",
>
>   I've just joined this forum and want to feel my way into it with caution 
>so I won't comment at length on your poem "Party Piece", except to say 
>there were some lines that struck me greatly;-
>   "sandwiched between two holidays" really brought out the sadness of this 
>dying woman's situation; and the other was: "tears lost in the opening 
>year" which emphasises it. Both lines powerful references to the impassive 
>nature of time and life rolling on regardless.-
>
>   I responded because you mentioned 'colanders 'in the first line. I 
>recently ran a workshop entirely about colanders: it produced some amazing 
>stuff!
>   best wishes,
>   sincerely,
>   Gill McEvoy-- Original Message -----
>     From: grasshopper
>     To: [log in to unmask]
>     Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 3:01 AM
>     Subject: New sub: Party Piece