What makes a poem good?

Rene, I wasn't saying that comments and such aren't vital, i was saying that discussions like this are equally vital. I agree, how else would we know. I agree with you. The impression I got from a previous comment was that you felt like this conversation was a waste of time and would be energy better spent commenting on poetry. That may or may not have been your feeling on the matter. I was preemptively saying, I think both are important.
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• stephan[/quote]

I agree with you here Stephan, both are extremely important parts of what goes into forming 'great' poetry. I also agree (for the most part) with Leanne on the guidelines she set out here for what makes great poetry with the exception that; sometimes, what moves me (or someone) may not move someone else so that makes it just a tad bit harder to distinguish what is actually great per se. I also feel that great poetry is timeless, it works now, it works tomorrow, and it works years from tomorrow.

The comraderie of a workshop builds trust among individuals. This means that when someone you have worked with before says to you that they think there is a problem in your poem, you are more likely to pay attention to them than to someone who has never worked with you before. Someone who is unwilling to listen to your own comments/critiques would be hard put to get you to listen to their own on your own work. It is not that a certain clique is formed, but more that trust is built among people who have been consistently reading each others poems.