Men and women write different poetry. Discuss

on Nov. 20 2007

In poetry, as in prose, it is the engendered Voice that is important, not the shape of the vessel who holds the pen.  I, too, have been told on numerous occasions that my poetry is "male" -- all except the rare "confessional" piece, which to me is a little on the narrowminded side, suggesting that women are all about the emotive and men perhaps more about the technical or specific.  Some poets never move beyond the "I" and it may be true that the majority of these are female -- probably because the majority of poets we see on the internet in particular are female.  Personally I believe that an arbitrary division into "male" and "female" viewpoints is about as true and realistic as claiming that women drivers can't reverse park, or that men can't talk and use the tv remote at the same time. 

Some women want to write directly from their own personal viewpoint.  So do some men.  The more adventurous poet will trust in his/her abilities enough to venture into a new poetic voice and attempt to communicate an otherness.  I would absolutely love to see this happen more, because NOTHING annoys me more than the automatic assumption that what I write is autobiographical.  But perhaps that's just me.