Forums
Welcome to the Poetry Forum! This is the place to ask a question, start a discussion, make an announcement, post your own work for comment or critique, or join the Forum poets’ workshop.
Be sure to read the Introductions & Announcements folder to get the latest news, find out who has joined the Poetry Forum, and if you’re new here, introduce yourself. Then you can browse in our other folders to find the discussion threads you want to participate in: Poetics & Poetry Discussion, Queries & Answers, Poems for Comment, Critique: Poems for Editing, Workshop: Challenge Poems, Library: Favorite Poems Quoted, Anthology: Member Collections, Not Poetry: Essays & Stories, Haiku, Theme Poems, Multilingual Poems & Stories, InterBoard Poetry Competition, and Teen Corner
You are more likely to get feedback on your own poem or find the answer to your question if you also participate in the existing threads here, offering a response to someone’s poem or helping to locate the lines they are trying to identify. Because this Forum is such a busy place, message threads are quickly pushed to the bottom of the reading list by new postings. Therefore, we ask that you post no more than one poem per day per folder. Happy posting!
FAQ
- Q. Do I have to register to use the Poetry Forum?A. You can enter as a guest and read posts, but you must register before you can post or answer a post that’s already there. Registering is quick, simple, and free. Please join us.
- Q. What topics can we discuss here?A. This forum is intended as a center for conversations about any aspect of poetry -- reading poems, writing poems, publishing poetry, poetry books, readings, performances & recordings.
- Q. Are there any types of posts that are prohibited here?A. We do not censor the poems posted on the Poetry Forum, but we do not permit advertising or flaming here. We will delete any spam or commercial posts. Flames, rude & insensitive remarks, or attacks on another Forum member will be removed. Users who are disruptive may be gagged at the Guide’s discretion.
- Q. May I promote my book or reading date or recording or Web site here?A. You may announce a new publication, an upcoming reading or performance, a CD release, or a Web site in our Introductions & Announcements folder, but please do not post here to sell something or involve anyone in a money-making proposition. Such commercial posts will be considered spam and will be deleted.
- Q. Can anyone come in?A. Yes. Access to the Poetry Forum is not restricted -- anyone with an interest in poetry & poets is welcome. Your guides will make an effort to keep the conversation on topic & to remove offensive or irrelevant posts, but no one will be monitoring the Forum around the clock. People of all ages & persuasions may participate, and parents should bear in mind that this Forum is not specifically “kid-safe.”
- Q. Are there rules of behavior on the Poetry Forum?A. Yes. Forum members should treat others with respect. We expect spirited discussions of many topics, but we hope to maintain a civil tone in the conversation -- we will discourage flames & personal attacks. Your guides reserve the right to remove posts that are unnecessarily offensive or hostile & people who routinely make such posts will face loss of Forum privileges.
- Q. How do I post a message on the Poetry Forum?A. To post, either reply to an existing message or click on “New Post” in the upper right corner of the index page. Select the name of the folder where you want your new thread to live & type a title. Then type the message in the entry box & click on “Post” at the bottom. That’s all there is to it. You can use the WYSIWYG buttons above the message box to control the appearance of your post, or if you prefer to paste in text that already contains HTML coding tags, click “HTML” below the message box.
- Q. How do I post a poem on the Poetry Forum?A. The software that runs this Forum may ignore your line breaks or automatically double-space the lines in your poem. To be sure that your poem appears the way you intend, try these HTML tricks:
If you’re pasting something you’ve already typed, click “HTML,” paste in the text of your poem & add “<br>” (=“line break”) at the end of each line.
If you’re typing your poem directly into the message box, hold down the Shift key when you hit the Enter key at the end of each line.
- Q. What is the lifespan of Poetry Forum postings?A. Your posts will remain on the Forum indefinitely & you can usually use the Search function to locate just the posts you want to see. (We also encourage Forum poets to create an index with links to all the poems they have posted on the Forum, for the benefit of readers who want to explore more of their work -- these are in the Poet Indexes folder.)