when a friend asks for crit

[Lizzie]

Hello all! I'm looking for some guidance. I have a good friend that asked me to critique a book of poetry that she's been working on for 20 years. She didn't intend to have it published, but suddenly got an influx of courage and is wanting to start submitting it for contests and publication. This is great, but it's never been critiqued before. The material tells her personal stories, and so it's a delicate matter. She is a good poet -- she's better than me for sure. She took poetry classes in high school and college, and then just wrote on her own in private. I just started writing poetry this March, so I'm not sure how much help I can be. I can't bring her here because a lot of her work focuses on the experiences of rape victims, and....well....recent events. Anyway, she's an obsessively private person. So, any thoughts on how to approach sensitive material tactfully and how to still be friends after a critique?

Thank you Pig Pen!

lizziep