I think poetry was always where I went to deal with my deepest feelings.
Be patient, work hard and consistently, have faith in your writing, and don't be afraid to listen to constructive criticism.
I've always loved the poetry in 'Pale Fire.' I think it's wonderful.
Poetry is really about your mental state or intellectual, and where you are, and you're trying to evoke that, explain it to yourself, whatever, you're trying to dig into it, analyse yourself.
I've always used poetry to explain myself to myself. These things just sat in my psyche and then came out.
I think poetry should be read very much like prose, except that the line breaks should be acknowledged somehow.
I love poetry; it's my primary literary interest, and I suppose the kind of reading you do when you are reading poems - close reading - can carry over into how you read other things.
Poetry is not mainstream, but then neither is serious fiction, really. But I don't think there's a lot to worry about in this particular 'problem'. Why does art have to be mainstream to be significant...
