The number of people writing poems is vast, and their reasons for doing so are many, that much can be surmised from the stacks of submissions.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
We all write poems; it is simply that poets are the ones who write in words.
And there are a lot more people reading poetry, but there are not so many people reading an individual poet.
Poems seem to have a life of their own. They tell you when enough is enough.
A great many people seem to think writing poetry is worthwhile, even though it pays next to nothing and is not as widely read as it should be.
The reason one writes poems is so that your poem will be remembered.
Poems have a different music from ordinary language, and every poem has a different kind of music of necessity, and that's, in a way, the hardest thing about writing poetry is waiting for that music, and sometimes you never know if it's going to come.
Each memorable verse of a true poet has two or three times the written content.
I've been surprised to learn how many people love poetry. It's beautiful to see that people want poetry in their lives.
Poetry is a release of something previously unknown into the visible. You write to invite that, to make of yourself a gathering of the unexpected and, with luck, of the unexpectable.
They say poets write mostly for themselves; if anyone else likes it, well and good, if not, it doesn't matter; certainly, not to me.