More Poetry Forums

Poetry Free-For-All
This forum is focused almost entirely on critique and serious workshops. The critical forums are divided into four levels from 'General Poetry' for the beginner to 'Advanced C&C (a.k.a. Highly Merciless) for the expert. The poets at each level are expected to display both poetic and critical abilities to match. A quick perusal of the forums shows what you might expect, or at least hope to expect.

The General forum has bad to promising poetry and commentary ranging from I liked/didn't like to somewhat useful suggestions. The third forum was the highest I could access without becoming a member. The poetry here was uniformly good verging on damn good. The critiques were either very detailed, or had a cogent point to make. It made me itch to find out what was hiding in the Advanced forum.

The moderators make every attempt to accommodate new members who are serious about learning. There are an abundance of posts explaining the rules, and some forums dedicated to learning both poetry and critique. Just don't expect much coddling.

The Poet Sanctuary
This forum caters mostly to poetry posts and general comments, but there is a critique section that appears to be live and well. Poster in the Writer's Workshop sections are required to post three critiques for every poem they submit for critique. That seem to keep the ratio of posts working well.

The quality of poetry varies widely, along with the quality of the critiques. It is a friendly environment with people willing to explain and no flaming. At least none I saw. A good environment for the poet just beginning who isn't ready for a harsher environment or the experienced poet who prefers an easier pace.

It's a friendly place, and I felt welcome almost immediately. At the same time I had no trouble getting good advice on the poem I submitted. I wasn't coddled, but I wasn't challenged to a duel of poetic terms either.