There have been two popular subjects for poetry in the last few decades: the Vietnam War and AIDS, about both of which almost all of us have felt deeply.
As humans we look at things and think about what we've looked at. We treasure it in a kind of private art gallery.
My old teacher's definition of poetry is an attempt to understand.
We control the content of our dreams.
It was difficult being a teacher and out of the closet in the '50s. By the time I retired, the English department was proud of having a gay poet of a certain minor fame. It was a very satisfactory cha...
I had assumed that I would age with all my friends growing old around me, dying off very gradually one by one. And here was a plague that cut them off so early.
Deep feeling doesn't make for good poetry. A way with language would be a bit of help.