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an example of what a workshop in a top mfa program was like in 2007:
"An amazing thing happened here yesterday that I& #39;m only going to tell you about because you know me well enough not to think I& #39;m a braggart asshole. So I& #39;m in [esteemed poet& #39;s] workshop...
"An amazing thing happened here yesterday that I& #39;m only going to tell you about because you know me well enough not to think I& #39;m a braggart asshole. So I& #39;m in [esteemed poet& #39;s] workshop...
and he& #39;s been pretty systematically tearing everyone apart--we spent 1/2 of yesterday& #39;s workshop tearing into this firstyear girl& #39;s poem, with [esteemed poet] going on and on about how she& #39;s not letting the language guide her...
not allowing the poem to exist in the moment of its own creation, forcing a preconceived idea of what it has to be onto it, etc. etc... and then he runs out of steam and says, "let& #39;s look at [dude& #39;s] poem...And he goes on to basically say that my poem has everything...
that hers lacks, and I& #39;m a rockstar who should impregnate all the women to make beautiful poet babies. It was fucking crazy!!! I was pretty uncomfortable, as the firstyear girl had looked like she was on the verge of tears before [esteemed poet] started using my poem...
to beat her down further...but still tremendously flattered. He still tried to rewrite a good 1/3 of the poem, and some of his suggestions seem dead-on to me--the fucking thing& #39;s far from perfect--
but it was still really nice to get some positive feedback, even if it was kind of at someone else& #39;s expense."
