Please I know I am only an amateur poet, not even published or even taken any classes on the subject. My main question whenever I read someone else's poetry is: "What is this about?" I mean usually my views and emotions (must be) are different than thiers, so I am usually just confused or haughty when I read poetry that is not mine. Does this mean I lack the fundamental empathy most humans have? Or am I Narcissistic? Do I just read the wrong poetry? Help me, for I like to share my own, but not necessarily read others....

Todd

-- Todd Marshall (lapeterson@earthlink.net), June 08, 1998

Answers

Todd,

When you say "read someone else's poetry" exactly who do you mean? Are you talking about friends, or people on the newsgroups, or established, published poets like Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, etc.? I ask because making a poem "accessible" is a difficult task, and if you're reading other amateur poets then the problem might lie in the poem itself. This is not to say that established poets won't write poems that are inaccessible as well, they do. I'd just like to know more about what poems you are reading and what it is you expect to gain from reading these poems. I doubt greatly that you are narcissistic, I think it's just the way you are approaching the poems, and maybe the poems you're reading. E-mail me, if you'd like, and we can discuss it.

Mike

-- Mike Billard (mbillard@worldnet.att.net), June 27, 1998.