Poetry

The Lord of the Rings
It’s nearly impossible to mention “fantasy” and not invite images or scenes from Tolkien’s works: conjured up to the forebrain like a puff of magic smoke from Gandalf’s pipe.
By Sam Spinelli26 days ago in Critique
An Apology to Trees. Runner-Up in The Most Overrated Challenge.
Did you have to memorize and recite Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees” in elementary school ? I think I was in fourth grade when it was forced on me. It was an assignment, counted as a test grade. I was young, knew nothing about poetry, but I knew I hated this poem. Perhaps anthropomorphic poetry was cutting edge in 1913, when it was published. However, you’ll be hard-pressed to convince this reader that 12 lines of rhyming couplet iambic tetrameter could ever be wedged into anyone’s definition of avant garde.
By Harper Lewis about a month ago in Critique
Keep Criticism Constructive
Introduction Vocal has four new Communities, and although they are not for me, I feel I need to have at least one post in each Vocal Community and I can always find a reason to write about almost any subject.
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 2 months ago in Critique
Today I Will Not
Introduction Yesterday I published three challenge entries and shared them in various Facebook Groups including Vocal Social Society (that I administer) and Great Incantations (where I just make up the numbers)
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 2 months ago in Critique
Not Quite There...
We grow up having dreams of what we would like to be when we get older but what if... What if all the schooling, preparation, and life lessons don't work
By J.W. Baird2 months ago in Critique
The Words I've Refused To Say. Runner-Up in Not Quite There Yet Challenge.
A couple of years ago, I went through an extremely complicated friend break up that spiraled me into a different type of depression that I had never felt before. I will not be getting into the specifics, but while I was recovering, I wrote lots of poems and even had plans to format them into a book.
By Annie2 months ago in Critique
A Distant Pride
The story never quite comes together because neither of them has reached the ending yet. Maybe that’s the problem. In my draft, their names are Elias and Rowan.
By The Kind Quill3 months ago in Critique
The Story That Waited
I think, as writers, we all have unfinished and abandoned stories that we never saw through to completion for a variety of reasons.
By Paul Stewart3 months ago in Critique
The Letter I Never Sent
I wrote the letter three times. Or maybe four. I lost count somewhere between page two and the spilled coffee. Each time, I told myself it would be the one that finally made sense. The one that explained everything: why I left, why I stayed, why I never really knew how to feel about any of it.
By Samara Pollyana 3 months ago in Critique
The Song That Never Was. Runner-Up in Not Quite There Yet Challenge. Content Warning.
I started my song writing journey many years ago. I didn't actually start sharing until fairly recently as I begun to find my voice in a way that felt meaningful to me.
By Sara Wilson4 months ago in Critique
Authorship vs Refinement
Much of the confusion surrounding artificial intelligence and writing comes from a failure to distinguish between two fundamentally different acts: originating ideas and refining their expression. These acts are often treated as interchangeable, as though whoever touches the final form must also be the source of the thought itself. That assumption does not reflect how writing has ever worked, nor does it reflect how human thinking actually unfolds.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast4 months ago in Critique
Expression vs Distortion
One of the most persistent frustrations in communication is the gap between what a person intends to say and what others actually receive. This gap exists regardless of intelligence, sincerity, conviction, or depth of understanding. Someone can hold an idea with clarity internally, yet watch it arrive distorted, flattened, reduced, or misinterpreted once it is expressed. The failure is often blamed on the idea itself, when the deeper issue is frequently translation.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast4 months ago in Critique