CHERRYGRIPE

I think the key to getting a cherry is to write really good poems. Here's a link to one: http://www.abctales.com/story/indrani-ananda/temple-dancer

Hi Indrani. This is well structured and thought out. You describe nicely our feelings as we remain 'unpicked' for seemingly ages while others,who we may feel less deserving of fresh fruit, are picked and picked again. But, (sighing sadly), I am afraid you have it in a nutshell. All art is subjective and personal. We can only put our trust in the eds, and carry on striving for fruit to fill our baskets. Don't ever give up. Your work is beautiful. Linda

Hi Indrani, I apologise if my previous comment upset you in any way - reading it back it sounds dismissive and I think you deserve a fair answer. As far as i'm aware there are about 20 active editors on ABC. If you post a poem, it is likely to be read by at least two editors and at most 4/5 ish. That means your poem has between two and five chances to be deemed worthy of a cherry. Obviously different editors have different tastes and some are more strict with the cherries than others. (I'm personally pretty tight with them, so if you see my name on the Who's On list, don't post if you think it might be overlooked. On the flip side, if it does get a cherry, at least you will have the knowledge that you gained your cherry from an editor who does not give out all that many - as happened yesterday.) Yes it is subjective, but if a poem is really good and deserves a cherry, it very rarely gets missed in my opinion. If you think anything does get missed (as Linda seems to be suggesting is happening with your back catalogue and hers) e-mail Tony or flag it up on the forum or even e-mail me and I'll be happy to have a look. I hope that explains things a little better, I may get in trouble now from the powers that be for revealing too much, but hey ho. :-) Hello Linda, I presume the "while others, who we may feel less deserving of fresh fruit, are picked and picked again." is aimed at me. Well here's a one time offer for you, if you have the time or the inclination, go through my cherried poems and if you can find any you like, make a note of them and I'll keep the cherries on those, any you don't think are worth cherries, I will uncherry. I can't say fairer than that. As long as I can keep the comments, I'll be happy - and it should make you happier having one less undeserving cherry glutton on the site.

Hello fatboy. I am really sorry you were upset, but you presume wrongly. My comment was in no way aimed at you. When I read your post to Indrani with a link to her own poem 'Temple Dancer',I thought it was a really nice way to let her know it had been cherried. Until I read your last post, I had absolutely no idea you were one of the 'Eds'; in fact the only one I did know the name of was Tony Cook. My 'non-cherrying' comment you quote was aimed at empathising with the disappointment Indrani has obviously been feeling, as do we all I guess when we are not 'picked'. However if you read on, I do urge Indrani, in the light of the subjectivity of the art, to carry on posting and to place our trust in the (until now as far as I'm concerned) largely anonymous Eds. I do accept editors' judgements albeit sometimes with disappointment, for as my comment implies, I recognise that you have much more expertise in critique than myself or most of us writers or you wouldn't be doing it, and I respect that. I think this is a great site, I love it, and will indeed continue to 'strive' to get better by continuing to post my work for as long as I am welcome here cherries or not. As for your offer to de-cherry any of your stuff I don't like, wow, well that is an offer and a half! How can I refuse - though as I said, I feel in no way qualified to critique in this way. Your passionate response to all the above shows such integrity and re-inforces what a great site this is. I really appreciate your having taken the trouble to take this up. Linda Hi Indrani - I do apologise for hi-jacking this page, but your clever poem has certainly had an impact! Back soon Linda,

Ah crossed wires and high horses - 1000 apologies Linda, if only I would learn not to jump to the wrong conclusions in cyberspace! Well I feel very bad particularly after the nice things you said, I'm off to skulk in the cave of shame to contemplate the error of my ways. ATB Fatboy :-( Indrani, I promise this is the last post from me on your poem, Linda's right about the hijacking so another sorry from me.

Hi Indrani, I agree with you about the lack of cherrying in the Fantasy/Sci-fi department, and I would add to that Childrens tales, which I remember was brought up once before on the Forum. As for the concept of cherries in general, I see where you are coming from but on the whole I think it is probably a good thing, as if you are that way inclined it gives you something to aim for. I always felt this with the 'star' system at school too. Since I have taken up Fatboy74's generous offer (see above) to uncherry any of his I think unworthy, I have realised what a difficult thing it is to compare different work from different authors; do I rate one piece of an author's work against the rest of his work? or should it be 'author blind' - each individual item of work compared to all other work? After all, the best work of one author might not be as good as the worst work of another so who gets the cherries? I'm all for carrot not stick. And I must say I love your work, often dreamy and surreal and sometimes the subjects are not mainstream, but always beautiful and well written with a rythm and language I can relate to. It's all subjective isn't it? I guess that's an unsolvable problem.

I have a comment but I'm not going to hijack Indrani's poem I'll take it to the forum.