One does not, during the writing, ask such questions as, “Is this ‘complex’ enough? Does it sufficiently baffle the reader?”

One writes, as truthfully and accurately as one can, and the “complexity” takes care of itself.

A poem “is”; it is “zeroing-in,” not a theory “about”.

A poem is a verb — the result of visceral action. All the “critical” “evaluation” and “analysis” come after the fact — if at all.

I recall a poem I wrote decades ago (“On a Beautiful Morning with the Sun Out”), in/with which I strove to be as open, “accessible,” clear and obvious, as possible — to, in a word, _give_ the _experience_, rather than an “artifact” “about” the experience.

I struggled to leave out _all_ potentially misunderstood extranea — “complexity”.

Decades later, not having read it in at least ten years, I reread it — and was stunned at the emotional complexities in it; complexities I had not been aware of at the time, let alone intended to include.

“Accessible”? Yes. Of “clarity”? Without question. “Complex”? Unavoidably.

It’s not that complicted:

Write honestly and truthfully, accurately, and let the head-gamers worry about the presumed differences between “complexity” and “difficulty” — about what degree of arrogant insularity/”complextiy”/”difficulty”/blah-blah-blah must be consciously, deliberately “built in” to “transform” a piece of writing from prosaic to “poetry”.

About what is “necessary” to make one’s poems “superior” to those against whom one insecurely measures oneself, and with whom one competes in running perplexed circles around even oneself.

Stop trying to be a “poet,” or to convince others — but especially oneself — that one is a “poet”. Strive instead — in _all_ things — to _feel_ that one is not a fraud.

All else? 97-plus per cent of “literary criticism” is a self-involved cottage industry irrelevant to “literature,” and to which “literature” is irrelevant. Shopsters “talking shop” with shopsters.

By contrast, being is not a career, and a verb cannot be taught.

So little communication.

Over 40 years and I’m still trying to overcome the academic.

So much round-about unadmitted effort to “figure out” the “game,” the “gimmicks”.

To paraphrase bobby d.:

“Twenty years of schoolin’!?/
“Put me on the [night] shift!”

…wow are we off topic.

Robert,
Methinks I’ll add you to my Echoing Voices…Those on my sidebar, not those in my head.

Peace,

Thanks for stopping by.

Now that’s a month (or a year) I could get behind!

Peace.

David Mamet said, “The difference between entertainment and art is accessibilty and necessity. Which I think sums up my thinking on the poem and its set aside month of recognition. I too am a fan of Frost and he influenced me greatly. Shakespeare, however, had the most profound effect on me personally.

He broke down barriers and opened the gates for the common people. I feel art evolves and with it it carries the “DNA” of future peoples and artists.