I find this very interesting...........
and you've got me thinking here

I think there are two sides to the coin

some poets are shy.
not performers, just addictive thinkers. Sooner or later there is a leak...which is not spoken, so it comes out in words. I don't know.

I am a closet poet. Few people know I write. I use the net just to have something to do with all I write. I don't even print my poems out.

But I do LOVE reading
poetry to me delicious cheese cake........cannot get enough!

you ARE a POET!
pax A :)

This deep dive into the demanding aesthetics and conflicting emotions that go into poem-making reads all at once like a sorrowful confession, a hopeful love letter, and a beautiful song to the endless ages. As THE EGO OF POET illustrates so superbly, the alchemy of transforming linguistic possibility into concrete meaning and clarity requires far more than either poets themselves or readers generally realize. The bridge spanning self-aggrandizement and service to the hearts, minds, and souls humanity is often a difficult and dangerous one to cross. Lucky for us that you have learned to do so with real courage, vision, and love.

"Proclaiming self an egocentric word engineer"
Erin that captures it to a T. Excellent.

This is on target, especially for National Poetry Month, Erin. You've captured the nature of the careful poet, and well, for all our care, to many lazy readers it doesn't matter. So often, the more subtle the poem, the closer we try to get to poetic perfection that would be considered more liteary and less common, the fewer readers we have because reading our work requires the audience to think harder. ;-)

And then, it is also ego-driven, because we get to a point where careful crafting and stretching ourselves is more important to us than how many people read our work; nevertheless, if we hope to communicate to others, even only to diligent readers, we should avoid going so deep into our own ego-trip that nobody connects to our poetry but us. If consistently we write so obtusely that no one understands what we've written, we might as well keep our work in a locked diary. I mean, that's the ultimate ego trip, to write in a way that only shows off our skill as wordweavers but gives nothing to the reader.

We must ask ourselves, if honestly we don't care that anyone understands our work, then what is motivating our making our scribblings public. Are we then just masturbating exhibitionists? This is not to say that we should compromise and write tritely for lower level readers, but we should remember that sometimes the more we're motivated to create spectacle with phrases no one may grasp but us, then sometimes all our work amounts to is bad poetry with big words. All things in moderation.

I have read the opinions of some poets who believe good poetry is poetry that everyone understands. I disagree with that view. Does everyone understand Shakespeare, TS Eliot, Toni Morrison? People are at different levels of education, intelligence, and spiritual growth. If we write to please the majority, then we are not artists striving to create classic work that withstands time, but simply indulging another side of ego, the desire to be popular.

I really enjoyed this poem, Erin. Thank you. ~~Nordette

thid is good --

that is the ultimate in ego
that we presume that anyone would,
of their own volition,
read what we write!

good write

john+

The uniqueness of this composition shows the teacher behind
its lines of live didactic breath.

"The Ego of Poet" adds to the golden pages of The Major Art
- thirty platinum lines - of a true poem to enrich the poetic literature of the twenty-first century.


Andre Emmanuel Bendavi ben-YEHU

Well done and well said and well . . . well, you know. If I influence anyone with my mindless ramblings, my Gawd, the earth is forever doomed. LOL Really good stuff here.

Nicely done Erin!!

Love Tinka

Excellent poetic analysis of the effects of poetically expressed Ego. Enjoyed this very much.
Love&Light*
Alexandra*

Hit the nail on the head here Erin in this well crafted and written piece.

Paul;-]

A poet's pen is like an artist's brush, a musician's instrument. You say this so well here, Erin. Thank you. Love and peace. Regis

a very creative and valid representation of what motivates most poets ...

Writing poetry? Is that what I have been doing all this time...? Maybe I have, but never have I done poetry as well as a certain young lady that penned this non-egocentric, non-verbal written communication that does appear on this page...wonderfully written and communicated, Erin.........I enjoy this truly, Ed

Nicely done - with this perfect craftsmanship of words, I followed along willingly! Thanks!
Monette

I doubt if I've ever read a better poem on this subject Erin!
Your brilliance radiates with this one! Brava! Outstanding!

Eileen

Hi Erin, Yup, you've zeroed in the questions we all ask as we try to make poetry. "As an entrepreneur of locution" grabbed me, but there were many more grabber lines following. Good work. Henry