On Criticism

[critical mass]

No censure or unneeded praise
comes from a master, only roads
gone upwards. A true guide will raise
-- by coaxing or at times with goads --
the seeker to an equal plain,
if such exists. To crush does naught
but shrink the pool; small fish may gain
and yet that kind is always caught.
A poem only ends when we
decide to close our eyes; no page
holds everything there ought to be
if closed off minds will not engage.

Really liked this.

naught threw me off a bit, twisting the syntax seemed to be a must to fit the verse tho.

no page holds everything there ought to be
if closed off minds will not engage.

nicely said.

David