No One Wants To Read Your Poetry

a poem

Sometimes When I get rude comments Fancy people with their schmancy rules Telling me I can never be a poet For I have not Officially Trained I think They think That they think That my worst nightmare Is that no one will read My poetry ‘because it’s not enough’ Yet at the end of the day, When I write it all out And feel the feelings directly, That doesn’t scare me at all. Sure, I may not earn a few cents From some lovely people who have Stopped by to enjoy the view But the worst nightmare Is not to never be read But to have never written My worst nightmare Is to have let these thoughts fester And echo through my brain Noodle Twisting into more and more complex knots. And perhaps in that writing Perhaps in writing what I had to untangle Is what makes my poetry ‘poetry’ Because when others read it They find themselves Or find a new angle To see something else. So there, Dear critic, Surprisingly not from within You’ve guessed wrong. My worst nightmare Is not to be obscure But rather to not have thought Or written at all, And that, My dear critic, Rather than a constant need to sell Ideas or notions or beliefs or Some fancy schmancy art Not digestible to others… Is precisely Why anyone pays attention to my writing at all. I write not because I write good (akhem WELL) But because I have a story to tell, And in that story Others find themselves Just one minute less lonely.

Writing Prompt: Dealing with criticism

Inviting Tima Loku| Karen Schwartz | Sohrab Khandelwal | Johannes Mudi | KSHernandez | Evan Wildstein | Vivian| Crystalclearcandace | Meenal Gupta| Rachael Ann Sand | if you’re up to it and anyone else interested to smash that writer’s block, join in on this tiny challenge and write a response, wherever it takes you! It can be a tiny poem, a shortform piece or an essay — whatever comes into that brain noodle!

Submit it to The Brain is a Noodle or be sure to tag me in your response if you publish elsewhere, so I can read it and share it with the world!

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Hi I’m Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) and I feel mixed feelings on private notes. They’re necessary to support editing and I’ve made such great connections with others, but I also find that sometimes people leave unsolicited commentary. Have you encountered this? // PS, I PUBLISHED A BOOK 📚

Hop down the rabbit hole? 🐰🕳

^ by Allison Gaines