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Hi everyone!

I’m a Christian and a poet from the “poetic wasteland” of Iowa (as a friend from California once put it). It gets kind of lonely when you mix all three of those things, so I’m grateful for this site and the encouragement I see being passed around here.

I was homeschooled in a Christian family, went to a secular college, found a personal relationship with my Lord and Savior instead of piggybacking on my parents’ faith, became an IT consultant, married the love of my life, and God’s building a family through us now.

I’ve enjoyed poetry for as long as I can remember. I used to write little poems for my parents on cards for their birthdays, then, when I became a teenager, I used poetry as an outlet when I was upset. Now I use it as an outlet for my thoughts in general, like a journal. I used to write verse religiously; now I mostly write free verse story poems and experiment with other styles. I’ve gotten a few pieces published and I’ve been asked by professors to share my poetry with their literature classes, but that’s the extent of my work’s fame.

I’d love to read over and offer my thoughts on and encouragement for any poems or short stories anyone here is working on. I am fairly busy, but I’ll make time if I can. Just give me a shout out and I’ll try to get you something within a week.

Here are some things I could use some help with:

It’s hard for me to get feedback from any of my friends on my poetry, much less meaningful feedback. If there’s anyone out there who’d like to read my work and offer specific encouragement or criticism, I’d REALLY appreciate it and I’ll return the favor (if it’s within reason. If you review a 1 page poem and expect me to review a 300 page novel in return, I don’t think that’s very fair).

I’ve always struggled with meter, so if anyone has a good grasp on that, I’d appreciate any help I can get.

I’m in the beginning stages of planning a book of poetry, so if anyone has poetry book publishing experience, I’d love to chat.

Sincerely,

Sir Leeds