A very harsh view Grassy

I think you're wrong about the umber of people that write poetry, at least
at some time in their lives. I think you're wrong that they are uninterested
in the writing process - I read to 400 in a small country town once about
writing processes and had non-literary townspeople approaching me to
comment/discuss/praise throughout the weekend - an amazing and affirming
experience.

If my life is poetry, and my art is expressed through writing, of course
I'll pen verse about writing poetry - it's part of the reflective process
that is critical to development at a personal level.

The only point I'll concede is that it needs to be written with the
reader/listener in mind - directed outwardly to be a positive shared
exploration or whatever, rather than an introspective wank.

You're way too hard on your fellow poets in this stance grassy, in my
mumbled opinion, at least.

The reason people feel alienated from poetry and don't buy more books is
that not enough poets write witht he reader in mind as the recipient of the
verse. Too much poetry is inaccessible and doesn't care for the ear or lives
of the folk out there in suburbia. Not enough stories are told with populist
intent.

Cheers,

Frank

> I'm surprised, reading various poetry lists, about how many poems are
about
> poetry and writing poems. It leads me to wonder what the expected audience
> of these poems is.
> I suspect the majority of people do not write poems - so why should they
be
> expected to connect to the writing process? Is is not rather solipsistic
to
> expect a general reader to be as fascinated by this subject as an author
is?
> I'll confess my personal feeling about this. I think Art should mainly be
> about life, not about art. Poems about poems can get very incestuous and
> inbred-- frankly I think it's rather an unhealthy trend.
> I've found most people don't respond that readily to poems about poetry,
but
> about things they can relate to more strongly -about living life, rather
> than the process of writing about it.
> Could this be why often people feel alienated from poetry these days--they
> feel much of it is aimed at fellow writers rather than the general public?
> I'd be interested to know what others think.
> Kind regards,
>   grasshopper