I found a new community of poets (new to me). It's called Strong Verse. ( strongverse.org ) It's published by Orson Scott Card, and I love their motto, "Good poetry is meant to be understood, not decoded." The editor also says, elsewhere on the site, "If it can only be understood by you and a few close friends, share it with them." and "If it doesn't make sense when you read it aloud, you're doing it wrong." I must say I like his philosophy. There are too many people who seem to think cryptic=deep. And, why does all poetry have to be deep? What's wrong with a poem that just makes you smile, or say "humm, yeah"?
I'm not a big follower of poetry, but as someone who has written some poems, I am interested in the subject. You may notice that I said "someone who has written some poems" and not "a poet" (now that I pointed it out, I'm sure you'll notice). I'm not sure where the dividing line is, but I don't (yet) see myself as a poet. Maybe it's because I can't say "I think I'll write a poem about the rain" and write one. My poems come as flashes. Sometimes they come fully formed (or nearly so), or I get a flash that starts it and then I have to keep mulling it over for weeks before I get it right. Without that flash, though, I got nothin'. Maybe it's because I'm waiting for some teacher/professor of literature to look over my work and say, "These poems are very good, you're a very good poet. May I share these with my students?" or for English lit majors to sit around and discuss the impact of my work. Those two senarios aren't likely to happen, so maybe I just need to have a poem actually published. Just one. (and a web-site that takes any poem submitted doesn't count) I did submit some poems to Strong Verse, so maybe if a professional editor, who's opinion on poetry I respect, chooses my work, then I'll feel like a poet.
Maybe it doesn't matter if I think of myself as a poet or not. I still keep getting the flashes, and writing them down, and hammering out what doesn't fit. Maybe it's better if I don't think of myself as a poet. Maybe it keeps me humble about what I do write. Maybe it doesn't matter that most of it is never widely seen.
