Young Writers Society

In my poetry, I tend to write in meanings. You often have to think beyond my words and into my thoughts to understand it. Is that too much to ask of the reader, or should the reader grasp my poem and think about it? Are there any other poets that do that? If you have an answer or a related idea to this topic, respond please!

I'm not entirely sure if this is what you mean, but you seem to be saying that you have a tendency to use lots of metaphors. This is a common and well regarded technique used amongst poets. It's also possible that you meant a variety of other things-whatever you mean, just remember that there is no right way to write poetry. If everyone followed a restrictive set of rules, the world of poetry would be incredibly boring by now.

However, many people seem to think you do have to go by aforementioned restrictive set of rules, but I'd like to recommend that you politely reject their criticisms if they try to make you use a certain structure, or whatever, unless you do think that using their suggested structure (or choice of words, grammar, etc) would help express yourself better.

It is normal to look at a poem and try to look for the deeper meanings. There are those who only look at the obvious, and get frustrated if there is no obvious meaning, or they might assume that your poem has a much simpler meaning than it does in reality. Don't be offended if people criticise your use of words in this manner, but also think carefully if they suggest changing/removing those words-there are always going to be people that like and dislike your work-some people will see or look for the deeper meanings, others will just think you're strange or stupid (which is outrageous), and you can't cater for all of them. When it comes down to it, you are writing for yourself, so you need to write in the manner which you feel is most appropriate. If you only have a limited audience, then there's nothing necessarily wrong with that.

In short-just do what feels right for you, and never assume that every criticism is appropriate (but always put criticisms into consideration).

I believe a poem should have what we like to call "deeper meaning." Unfortunately, a lot of people take that to mean they can ignore the technical aspects of their poetry, which isn't true. It's not fair to a reader to write a poem that's vague and boring to read that sounds terrible, and then expect them to appreciate it for the meaning...the meaning of the poem is essentially a part of the more concrete aspects of the poem and you can't ask a reader to go hunting for it if you're not going to do the necessary things to get it out there, you know?

I often compare things about writing to pie. Say you bake a really great pie. I mean it's delicious, right? Totally yummy. Except you didn't bother making it look any good. The top is all squished and the filling is a funny color. Nobody is going to take a bite out of that pie. They'll never understand how tasty it is unless you make it look not only edible, but physically delicious.