< the purpose of poetry >

I agree. The purpose of poetry pure and simple, no artificial words, just natural.

i just love to write poems about poems even
though it can get a bit incestuous.

for me the poem resides in your last two stanza
which i enjoyed very much

looking at the whole poem. for me the couplet could work just as well if not better at the end of the poem

up til the last stanza it's a little prose but it works so it's not a problem for me. i don't read it as one of those flowery image poems (which i like ) though i am glad of the images in the last stanza ;)

it flows well and feels that it has a purpose of being a light airy poem whose content many could attest to.

a really enjoyable read, thanks

—> looking at the whole poem. for me the couplet could work just as well if  
—> not better at the end of the poem  
 
   yes, that would work just fine  
 
—> ... a light airy poem ...  
 
  well, ok, i'd kinda hoped for 'simply profound'.  :)
 
  (and, just for fun (see above) i added an older version of the poem  
   after the newest one)

my airy could be your profound :)

i have to say i think you did a good edit. for me the 2nd version is far better.

your aerie is definitely above ground

  poetry gives artists
    who can't draw
    a place to paint
    and novelists
    who can't write
    a place to speak

:excellent observation

I love the line

"words saved Sylvia Plath for years      
      and then      
      they helped her"
I have been saved many a time by my poetry.

yes, me too. (though sometimes what i was saved from would probably have worked out better.) but the second part... still waiting for that.

You know I would hate giving one such an ego boost but I thought this was stunning, gradual yet not lengthy. It was simple and yet covered and confirmed a lot. It makes people who perhaps doubt their own work realise they don't have to care as they are doing it to "save themselves." I loved the theory of escape. Beautiful. I hope in a few years, or days if I could have what I hoped for I can get up to speed with this sort of skill - Really had to grimace when writing that.
Brilliant piece. - Reading list..

    "It makes people who perhaps doubt their own work realize they don't
     have to care as they are doing it to "save themselves." ----->  

or "amuse themselves" (salvation comes in many forms). --------
 
    "I hope in a few years (or days if I could have what I hoped for) I can
     get up to speed with this sort of skill." ----->

moving target. i've had serious fun with writing for many years.
cheapest hobby i can think of. it's my form of meditation/religion.
there's this trance i enter when i write. time isn't there. it's
probably one of those paths to enlightenment though it could also
(as the poem states) lead to suicide. just like the rest of life :)

I am possibly the only person who completely hates Sylvia bloody Plath... and I disagree with the lines "novelists who can't write", because I rather think that writing is a prerequisite for poetry (although there is abundant interne evidence to the contrary)... certainly though, it's a good medium for novelists who can't sit still for very long.

Having said all that, this is a nice little poem -- or metapoem, I suppose, which is possibly my favourite kind.  There's something in it that will ring true for every writer or reader of poetry, and hopefully there's something that everyone will disagree with too, because in conflict, poetry is born.

While writing IS a prerequisite for poetry;
writing a novel isn't. And yes, poetry is most
suited for people with short attention spans.
Now... where was I?

dont know what to say... but this poem is amazing, you are extremely talented and this is really .... well, amazing!

You said exactly what was necessary for me.*-*-=
Those last five characters were typed by a cat (Dark Tiger) jumping on the keyboard. Everybody's a critic.