New workshop

Much to my surprise, it's going well, at least so far.
Since this was the same instructor I'd had two years ago, who had been less than impressed with my style, even giving me an A- because it was "less polished than some of the others" (I think this was her polite way of saying it pretty much sucked) I'd had very low expectations for what she'd think of my new stuff, just hoping I'd learn some things about meter and form that would be useful, and of course, that I'd get that last workshop credit I need.
I guess she appreciated that my first submission was a ghazal (although not in the strict back-to-the-Arabic style that is the new model for ghazals in English) and in general, she seemed to dig it. I was shocked and relieved. I know that she's very accomplished with that particular form, and I trust her judgment in all technical matters; she's very meticulous and thoughtful; so it was a nice way to begin the semester.
And I was inspired to try to work the ghazal into a "true ghazal" for one of my revisions, since I guess, when it comes to poetry, I respond more to positive reinforcement than negative... playing right into the formalists' hands, aren't I? ;) Nah, to be fair, I think I really have improved since that first workshop and the one I took the following year (owing partly to taking a break from workshops, reading a lot of poetry, writing a lot of to-heck-with-it free verse stuff, and getting some of my confidence back) and maybe she's become more open, too, over the last two years. I think we'll get along swell... which is good, because I need to choose an adviser for my thesis soon.
And since any possible defensiveness I might have been harboring has dissipated, I'll be more open to "constructive criticism" on the next submissions. Like I said in the previous post, I've developed a pretty thick skin, anyway, based on the last workshop I took with an instructor who was less polite than this one (although also more of a character and more open to experimentation, which kept things interesting at least... I liked her better than most of my classmates did.)
But I guess it's nice to feel that there's not anything to prove now and it can just be about the work itself, which is the point, after all (and what I'm paying the big bucks for, not my precious little ego :)