A bit of a conversation with myself

[Leanne]

hey now, a textbook or research paper can be written with a ton of passion -- it tends to show in more mathematical ways, though (although some of the biology textbooks i've read sneak in a few jokes). there's a certain art to expressing thought, just as there is to expressing emotion or faith, and just because a text is supposed to focus on thought, does not mean it loses the other two (i guess Kierkegaard?)

I love writing textbooks AND research papers, but I'm pretty disturbed. I'm also kind of a Kierkegaard groupie. I definitely didn't choose to write poetry because I'm super touchy feely or ultra expressive about emotional stuff -- I just quite like the challenge of maximum impact, minimum words and maybe occasionally getting someone to think a bit.

Leanne - have you read 'Madness, Rack and Honey, collected lectures by Mary Ruefle'?

If not, please do.

I think you mustn't have, or your opening post in this thread would not sound so discouraged. Maybe that's not the right word. Anyway, I recommend it to anyone who has ever wondered about poetry (and life itself) - what it is,what it does, why it is so important.

I haven't and I will, thank you. I think I'm more disillusioned than discouraged -- I know how important poetry is to the world, it's just that there are so many people who are all "ooh, Kardashians" and off to the next shallow object, while a really good poem can languish in obscurity forevermore. And god forbid someone has a disagreement about the colour of a dress -- you could write the next Howl and nobody would have a clue, because they'd be too busy trolling the crap out of the guy who couldn't figure out about filters.