A Don Coburn Poem: In The Workshop After I Read My Poem Aloud

Today I'm sharing a Don Coburn poem. Even if you're not into poetry, this will give chuckles and insight to anyone who writes.

IN THE WORKSHOP AFTER I READ MY POEM ALOUD All at once everyone in the room says nothing. They continue doing this and I begin to know it is not because they are dumb. Finally the guy from the Bay Area who wears his chapbook on his sleeve says he likes the poem a lot but can't really say why and silence starts all over until someone says she only has a couple of teeny suggestions such as taking out the first three stanzas along with all modifiers except "slippery" and "delicious" in the remaining four lines. A guy who hasn't said a word in three days says he too likes the poem but wonders why it was written and since I don't know either and don't even know if I should I'm grateful there's a rule I can't say anything now. Somebody I think it's the shrink from Seattle says the emotion is not earned and I wonder when is it ever. The woman on my left who just had a prose poem in Green Thumbs & Geoducks says the opening stanza is unbelievable and vindication comes for a sweet moment until I realize she means unbelievable. But I have my defenders too and the MFA from Iowa the one who thinks the you is an I and the they a we and the then a now wants to praise the way the essential nihilism of the poem's occasion serves to undermine the formality of its diction. Just like your comment I  say to myself. Another admires the zenlike polarity of the final image despite the mildly bathetic symbolism of sheep droppings and he loves how the three clichés in the penultimate stanza are rescued by the brazen self-exploiting risk. The teacher asks what about the last line and the guy with the chapbook volunteers it suits the poem's unambitious purpose though he has to admit it could have been worded somewhat differently. First published in The Iowa Review. Reprinted in Hard Choices: An Iowa Review Reader, edited by David Hamilton (University of Iowa Press: 1996); In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet's Portable Workshop, by Steve Kowit (Tilbury House: 1995); The Portable Poetry Workshop, by Jack Myers (Wadsworth: 2005), and The Starving Artist’s Survival Guide, by Marianne Taylor and Laurie Lindop (Simon Spotlight Entertainment: 2005). Also in Another Way to Begin (Finishing Line Press: 2006) and As If Gravity Were a Theory (Cider Press Review: 2006). Ah, the psychology of writing. Are you ever hesitant to share your work for fear of judgment?