Real people. Real opinions.
Browse WAURE
← Advice & Questions
Entertainment · Advice & Questions ·

Can I ask my friend to change a poem that uses details from our private conversation?

Entertainment category photographEntertainment

My friend sent the poem she planned to read at an open mic. The line about leaving a flat with a kettle and one blue shoe was from something I'd told her after a breakup.

She'd changed the name and the city. She says nobody will know it's me. Several mutual friends are going to the reading, and two helped me move that day. They would recognise the shoe.

I hadn't asked her to keep the conversation secret; I thought telling a friend was different from providing material for a public poem. She says the image matters to the ending, and removing it will make the piece weaker.

I like her writing and don't want to police everything that inspires it. What can I reasonably ask her to change when the detail matters to both the poem and my wish not to become identifiable at the reading?

Discussion

3 community replies

Explain who could recognise the blue shoe, rather than debating whether changing the city makes the whole poem anonymous. You've identified a particular audience and detail. Ask her to replace that image before this reading.

The image may be important to the poem. That doesn't make your discomfort a misunderstanding to dismiss. She can take both concerns into the revision rather than asking you to accept the exposure because the ending currently depends on it.

Did she send the draft to ask for feedback or to check your comfort with it? Clarify that. You may have thought you were being offered a say before the reading, while she thought she was sharing a finished piece with a supportive friend.

Join the discussion

More in Entertainment