Poetry Journey #1

Week 1 - What I Hope to Discover

Hello, fellow poetry lovers. I'm starting this weekly series not as an expert, but as someone genuinely trying to learn what makes poetry work and what makes it publishable. I've written 29 poems about love, connection, and intimacy, and honestly, I have no idea if they're any good.

I'm sharing this journey because I suspect many of us are in the same boat: we write from the heart, but we're not sure if our work would ever see the light of day in a literary journal. Over the next 38 weeks, I'll be analysing my own poetry with brutal honesty, learning about craft, and hopefully improving along the way.

What I Hope to Learn:

• What separates amateur poetry from publishable work

• How to identify and fix my own weaknesses

• Whether my voice is distinct or just derivative

• How to balance emotion with craft

• What journals might actually want my work

What I'm Bringing to This:

• 29 poems I genuinely care about

• A willingness to be wrong about my own work

• Curiosity about what makes poetry tick

• Zero ego about receiving feedback

My Current Fears:

• That my work is too sentimental

• That I rely too heavily on clichés

• That I don't understand what "original voice" actually means

• That I'm not reading enough contemporary poetry

Join me on this journey. I'll share one poem each week starting next Saturday, along with my honest assessment of what I think works and what doesn't. Please tell me what you see that I'm missing.

Questions for Readers:

• What's your biggest poetry learning challenge?

• How do you know when a poem is "finished"?

• What made you realise you needed to study craft more seriously?