Ranger24 Apr 2006

I did say that it wasn't directed at you (your poem just happened to be the one I was reading at the time), I didn't accuse you of not commenting, and I didn't say that *all* the poets have gone. But it's a fact that since poemranker was born there have been some fantastic poets here, most of whom have since disappeared. And, lest you think that I'm indulging in undue arrogance here, I certainly don't consider myself to be among the good poets here. I give what I can. If I feel I have a useful and relevant critique to make, I'll make it. If I feel that I don't then I will simply say what I liked/disliked about the piece, and give justification if necessary. Either way though, I am giving. I've been away quite a bit over the last couple of weeks and so haven't been about as much as before, but even so I usually manage to comment on everything or almost everything in the top twenty. As such, I usually get more comments than a lot of people. But even that has dwindled recently.
There are still poets from whom a lot can be learned. And I have made a point of saying on various occasions that reading other peoples' poems here and leaving a comment of some sort is also useful for improving your own poetry. But really, we have to make the place more appealing for new poets to come along. And that won't happen while the participation is as low as it is. Not only that, but I doubt many new poets would want to read the sort of tripe that I spout. So how am I going to remedy that? By improving. And if I have to use other sites to improve in order to be better here as well, then so be it. I hope I don't sound like some stuck-up teenage English cock, I probably do though. Sorry to have posted it on your poem; if it's any consolation, more people are likely to read it here. Eugh, I'd better stop before I make even more of an arse of myself.