SHOULD PARENTS BE SURPRISED ?

This is very true, Joseph.  It's our responsibility to raise and protect our children as best we can.  Unfortunately, we cannot shield them from their own choices once grown. We can only hope they learn and survive from the ordeals.

I wonder if, instead of focusing on the "message" of this piece,  you'd say something about  where and how here is (or isn't) poetic craft shown within it in the way it sets out what it is (rather patronizingly) claiming.   Is it metrically pleasing?  Grammatically and syntactically sound? How are its sonics?  Is the language used in any way musical or  invocatory or imaginative.  Does it employ metaphors and similes ?  Is there anything within it that is a concrete appeal to the sense so that you are made to see with your eyes shut -- as Pulitzer prize winning poet Linda Pastan notes is the essence and aim of poetry?

By all means, wonder. :)

So, you have no answers?  Does this mean that you haven't a clue about what goes into making good poetry?

Makes you wonder, doesn't it? ;)

Dear Ahavati,
You are right. However, they are the children of life, and they seek their own ways. Thank you very much, Ahavati.

You're very welcome, Joseph.

What are you giving me a "you are welcome" for?

"You're very welcome"

Ah .. once again you present yourself as wiser than all other human beings!

And isn't "we've endowed them all that we can have?" awkward both syntactically and grammatically?  Should it have been " we've endowed them all with everything we have" to be sensible?

Parents’ hopes
for goodly lives
for their offspring
end often in
despair;
for as a rule
despite the care
they gave and give to them
to thrive
within the world,
their kids forsake
the paths
all mums and dads
did hope
with all good will
their progeny
would take.

Very dear Ahavati, and EW,
Thank you very much for your great support. Usually, l don't answer Baldwin when l find his criticism is meaningless. Look at his great art in his great poem!!!

You have yet to show in any way at all that my criticism is not warranted, let alone meaningless.  And how I might write has no bearing on whether or not what I say about the way you write is or is not valid.

Correct your second sentence before you instruct people how to write poetry. You start your second sentence with AND. Is it good English to use a coordinator in place of a transition? How can you consider yourself all knowing and all the other poets who like my poetry having no knowledge? Don't you feel that you have exaggerated your knowledge too much? Be reasonable for once and answer me logically. Or perhaps you can't. By the way, try to write poetry to show others how the write it.

Another dodge.  I thought that the issue at hand was whether or not you have ever demonstrated that the remarks I have made about the way you write are invalid, not how  my last message to you was not written well.  How does a (questionable) critique of my latest message to you demonstrate what I've been asking you to demonstrate -- i.e., that the remarks I have made about your submissions are not warranted or valid?

It's my experience that people who use such dodges are incapable of  showing that critiques of the way they write poetry have no basis in fact.

So I ask again,  do you think that you are incapable of writing poorly.  It's a "yes" or "no" question.  And any answer other than "yes" or "no" is a dodge.  

Thank God there are really great poets who like my poetry. They write great poetry which can be really enjoyed. Look at their pages. They are full of great poems, and try to learn from them. Then try to fill your empty page with some good poems if you can write good poetry. Look at your page. It's empty. You are a poet without writing any poetry.

My page is not empty.  And all of the pieces I've posted there have not only been viewed far more times that yours have,  but have also received stellar compliments.  
 
As to those who have responded to your posts,  I see that none of them have commented positively, let alone articulately and in any thoughtful detail,  on your skill at poetry (if they say anything, it's about your "message"), and most of them have no critical acumen.

You surprise me. The number of poems you have written are six. No wonder, you sacrifice your time just to talk too much about meaningless topics.

So quire contrary to your claim, my page is **not** blank.  Isn't this more evidence that anyone reading what you write should not trust you to speak the truth?  

Moreover, all you can logically deduce from the fact that there are six pieces on my page is that I've **posted** six (which have been read far more times that any of yours have been and have been given praise that is more articulate than the "praise" that yours have received).  To claim that I have only ever **written** six pieces is a false deduction and an example of bad logic.

In any case,  are you saying that the topics I spend my time discussing (your submissions) are essentially meaningless? That's the import of your assertion.

I also note  that once again you've dodged doing what you should be doing if anyone is to believe that you actually have  critical abilities and that you know what you are talking about when you claim that you know what does and does not make for good poetry -- i.e., demonstrating that my remarks about your submissions here are uninformed and without merit, not to mention answering my yes or no question about whether you  think it's impossible for you to write poorly.

The title of this poem got me hooked. I liked that :)

Sometimes parents can do all in their power to raise their children and instill key values but at the end of the day each child will grow to have their own view point as suggested, sometimes they will embrace and accept the way of their parents other times they will divert from it. Such is the way of life

OK.  So you liked JZ's message.  What do you think of the way he sets it out?   Is his meter sound?  Has he used language well?  Has he shown that he is interested in getting the measurement of his lines correct  at the expense of correct syntax and good grammar?  Has he employed deixis?  Has he used any imagery in his piece, let alone imagery that brings a reader inside an experience and makes them see with their eyes shut.  Has he spoken in an all knowing,  paternalistic tone and presented himself as far wiser than all other human beings?  Has he engaged in question begging declarations as your message seems to indicate since it challenges the truths of his claims?

I am really surprised at you. You have appointed yourself as an attorney general against any person who likes Joseph Zenieh's poetry. I know the reason, but don't ask me what it is. Ask yourself. Surely, there is a good reason for it in your heart, which makes me your first enemy. Jealousy can do a lot. All that hatred proves to me that my poetry is great. For this reason you have appointed yourself a public prosecutor against anyone who likes my poetry. If criticism and attack come from you, it is a convincing proof that my poetry is great. Thank you, Baldwin. You have given me great confidence in myself because you give me great importance, and you lose such a long time to attack me. This is another proof that my poetry is great. If it is trifle, you will leave my readers to discover that by themselves, no need to waste a long time on it and get the enmity of the readers as most of them answer you rudely. Thank you, Baldwin, for your help.

Ok Baldwin—that’s enough .  “Critique “ doesn’t mean rip the poet or the piece , a new asshole, so go attend to your own poems for a while and keep the personal attacks , out of those, too.  

Dear NB,
Thank you very much for your reading and for your very kind comment.