Simplicity in Poetry

[Lizzie]

I also heartily disagree with this. You write to create a poem. From there what happens, happens.
You would deliberately make a poem worse to pander to an audience?
Anyway, if you write a great poem the audience will find it.

Pander? No. Connect with? Yes. I write poetry because I want to connect with other people on an honest, soul-to-soul, authentic level. I'm not interested in just writing for myself because I don't want to exist in a vacuum. I'm also not interested in faking my work because then it wouldn't be fulfilling for me when someone connects to it.

I was trying to make a joke about the accolades, but the desire to write for others is real.

I understand what you're saying about the audience finding you. I think that there's also something to be said for writing in such a way that allows the readers you want to find you. I think that the relationship between the reader and the writer is a two way street -- they have a responsibility to read with interest, openness, patience, and attentiveness. Writers should write in such a way that allows the reader to see something of their truth and the truth of existence from the perspective of the writer. That's all I'm saying.