Write verse, not poetry. The public wants verse. If you have a talent for poetry, then don't by any means mother it, but try your hand at verse.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private.
What I do say is that I can write verse, and that the writing of verse in strict form is the best possible training for writing good prose.
I have not the slightest pretension to call my verses poetry; I write now and then for no other purpose than to relieve depression or to improve my English.
I want to be the best advocate and promoter for poetry that I can be.
Whereas with poetry no one has to show anybody really, and you don't have to tell anyone you're doing it.
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.
On a practical level, poetry isn't something anybody has really made a great living at. I might sell some books and, once in a while, someone might pay to hear me read.
A poet should always be 'collaborating' with his public, but this public, in the mass, cannot make itself heard, and he has to guess at its requirements and its criticisms.
But at the beginning it was clear to me that concrete poetry was peculiarly suited for using in public settings. This was my idea, but of course I never really much got the chance to do it.
Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.
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