What is poetry?

In my own words I can call it an individual self-therapeutic literature embracing journey into expression, imagination, thought, and environment, ending in intense artistic and emotional expression to which offers an audience the ability to react to each individuals own interpretation of the work judging from their own awareness, values, interest, and willingness.

One poem could mean many marvellous morals, messages, memories, and feelings.  Different opinions and internalized info turned reactions and thoughts from the author, close friends of the author, critiques, fans, and simple readers reading can differ in thick variety.

In each poem there is a quantum number of interpretations to which the imagination allows.  This said some poems will lean in obvious directions, but every path is flexible.

In University I remember walking down the hallway with a two classmates (one an open homosexual very tall whom I respected), we’d just finish a writing class and were discussing the professors opinion of what poetry is and how she was teaching it – whether it be her choice to teach it such or not.   She told us poetry had rules we must follow, that it indeed was actually a strict literature art, and we as poets must obey certain rules of poetry and write within them, the preferred manuscript and structure, with themes, titles, imaginary highly in mind occupying thinking and other shit they seem to just throw in to make it seem like they we’re actually teaching something.   I remember this well because even as a child I felt it was merely a form of self expression like any art and held no limits to what I could do with a pen or computer word processor.  My classmates and I agreed anyone could write just about anything and call it poetry. Poetry is expression with infinite interpretations available to everyone involved in it.   It’s letting the I out onto a page loose for all to see and get personal with despite whatever feelings they get from it – wait, fuck that last bit, to get personal with to deliberately rattle up emotions – no one wants to write a boring poem.