Poetry Consultations with Rainie Oet

In a collection of poetry, I am deeply interested in the relationalities of micro/macro -cosms, where the whole reflects every choice within it. I hold that writing is a spiritual endeavor by which we understand, and communicate, reality. (When I say reality, I don’t just mean the hard stuff, like facts; I actually mostly mean the soft stuff—subjective patterns, feelings, opinions, frictions.) My favorite poetry collections are the ones that teach you how to read them through a commitment to their own soft-stuff, and in doing so, give you a different way to see life. And my favorite poems are the ones which own their failure to name the unnameable, making beauty of that failure. Also, I just love poetry that cares about the reader having fun (even as that fun might be sobbingly hard).

As a reader and critiquer of poetry, my guiding principle is non-normative subjectivity. As a critiquer, I apply non-normativity to my feedback. A poem’s greatest strengths are often the parts that get cut by well-meaning peers and teachers. I enjoy helping poems and collections find their most authentic voice. I like to work simultaneously on both the most macro and most micro level. On the macro level, I apply principles from fiction, investigating plot (either on a literal or emotional level), character, and worldbuilding. On the micro level, I think about how things such as unusual rhythmic structures or comma placements can actually help the reader intuit truths about the speaker’s inner world. Above all, I am interested in getting to know what is most complexly real in the writer/speaker’s world, and then supporting the writer in communicating that reality effectively and pleasurably to a reader.

I am a subjective reader. I always read your work as myself, unfolding and communicating my authentic personal responses for your consideration. If you’re choosing me to read your work, it will probably be because you are excited about getting feedback from a reader like me. I am transfeminine, neurodivergent, and—most importantly in this context—deeply excited to uplift the idiosyncracies that set your writing apart from everyone else.

As a writer and reader, I see the poetry collection as a cohesive unit, telling one complicated story. I love to write and read things that maximize iconicity and emotional clarity. I love collections that “break the rules” while also bringing me along for the ride. I love speculative energy—thinking about how things could be as much or more than how they are. I particularly love reading work by writers with experiences that lie far beyond the status quo, as I find that they often have the most interesting and important things to say.