Dear Pigpen: we need to talk

[busker]

Imagine that I wanted to make a movie full of 90's pop culture references that others may or may not get. Should I not make that movie because not everyone will get every reference? Surely a well done movie would have something to offer even if folks didn't get each and every reference. 

You should definitely make the movie. It won't work for everyone, but it'll work for others.

Can I tell you a story? I had a piece here once that I would point to as a good representation of my overall aesthetic. I tried and tried to revise it because I had people badgering me that they weren't 'getting the point,' 'couldn't find the meaning,' as if poetry has a Point, Meaning, Truth, Answers...all the capital letters. My poetry is intended to introduce a scene or the framework of a story (and it's not important that every reference be grasped to take something away) -- it's snapshots, it's impressions, not explication. There is meaning, but not one single meaning that, if you don't get that singular meaning, then you've failed or the author has failed. At any rate, I revised this particular poem to absolute death over the objections of others because I believed that I had to reach every single reader or I had failed my job as an author. I tried to make up story lines out of nowhere (that never existed to begin with) but it didn't work, and I almost destroyed the poem in the process. Finally, Leanne told me that it was a good poem and locked it in a cabinet where I couldn't destroy it.

I don't know about how much Leanne liked it - clearly, she liked it enough to spotlight it.
I absolutely loved it, as did many others.
Most of the time, revisions for someone who writes as well as you do, would be tinkering at the margins. Changing a poem wholesale based on feedback on this or any other forum is useless 99% of the time.
Take the feedback and bin it or use it, it's up to you.
I don't write as well as you do, but I use the same principles

My pieces aren't riddles, didactic, or rhetoric. There's really no way to fail as a reader when you come to my poems other than to get frustrated that there's no singular point (or, justifiably, that the ride wasn't pleasant enough from an artistic viewpoint to justify multiple reads). If I've done my job, I've created a world where you can touch things, play around, look around and wonder. That's a successful poem for me. There's no reason to feel stupid or dejected if you don't "get the point" because there's no one single meaning. It's a snapshot to facilitate the imaginative wanderings of the reader. 

Still, sometimes some reader won't get it.

I don't belong in this forum if people are not interested in this kind of poetry. No hard feelings, but we will part ways. I will meet you in your aesthetic if I know what it is. I will help you try to achieve your own goals on your own terms. I welcome people to talk about what good poetry is for you so that I know how to help you. For instance, I would never badger Mark to include more layers of complexity or add a little mystery to his writing because I know that it's not his style. 

That's up to you.
My observation is that internet poetry fora are dying out anyway.
Most people these days access the internet on their mobile phones, and lengthy, thought out feedback such as what you get on this forum is a dying form of communication.
Emojis on instagram are what's there out there.

I am an intentional author who doesn't just slap something that I wrote on the back of a napkin and then put it into serious, full of half-baked thoughts and typos. People can help me edit by telling me what is working for them and why or I can't revise.  

I am the other kind - I slap something that I wrote on the back of a napkin and post it on this forum.
But regardless, the feedback you receive is a function of:

1. when it (the poem) was posted
2. who was free at the time, or in the window between it being posted and moving down the list because of more recent posts
3. who was free, read it, and then had the time to respond
4. how much time he had, and whether he could articulate it properly at the time
5. whether you liked it or not

Perhaps 1-5 could be greatly improved if we had more members, but there's not a lot that can  be done about it. It's one of this, the Gestapo over at PFFA, a bunch of other online fora of the same or lesser quality, or instagram poetry.

This is not aimed at anyone in particular. It's how I've been feeling since I got here, and it's just now coming to a head because I'm at an inflection point. Writing is a solitary activity, and I need companionship along the way. I recognize that people might hate me from the 'before times,' or think I'm an un-talented, overly precious drama queen. Many people have come to this conclusion. What I want more than anything from this forum is to be well read, and I would do the same for you.

Dunno where you get all the hating etc from
Yes, you're a drama queen
You're also a very talented poet. I think that's obvious.
It's great having you here on this forum because your poems and crits are top notch, despite the occasional meltdown.