Why?

[ellajam]

It always seems people are embarrassed to admit they feel anything at all when they sit down to write. To admit it if they do feel they're accomplishing something.

Interesting observation. I find that much of contemporary poetry, even the best, is great to read but easy to forget. There's too much stiff upper lip 'a poet is not a maudlin fool' thinking going on.
I recently bought 2 books of Ted Kooser's poetry. Much as a I admire his writing, at best it makes me go 'ahhhh....so beautiful', whereas when I read Dylan Thomas or Hopkins, I can feel my head spin.

Rowens, I haven't been able to decide what you mean by this. Do you mean that writers don't admit their feelings about the act of writing and how they feel about their work, or that they write without emotion?

Achebe, yes, it's quite the feat when you can say both ahhhh, beautiful and also get that lasting pang of something that sticks. I have to say that I've read an overflowing handful of those here posted on this site, a real treat when they appear. I'm going to go look for one I remember now.