So you want to be a poet.

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Wow. Such an enjoyable read.

Wow, that's a little...pessimistic. :]] I also go through the same feelings (don't we all?) that my poetry must be halfway decent, then I read one of the great poets and want to destroy all my work. The fact that there must be thousands of other wannabe-poets doesn't help either. But, like you said, the most important thing is that you be comfortable with your own work, that you accept yourself, your limits and your strengths. But then again, I have to disagree on that point. To be content with a simply mediocre - "good," as you said - poem is not enough. It is the realization of our, eh, mediocrity that urges us to try harder next time and produce really great work.

Ok, I'm getting off my soapbox now. Those were just my thoughts on this poem.

oneeyedunicornhunter wrote:So you want to be a poet.

i generally dont like the first line of a poem to be the same as a title...and this is one of those incidents. it basically makes me wonder "okay, i'm reading the same thing over again without learning anything new...what's the point?"

You want to thrill your readers,
Make them laugh and sob,

laugh vs. sob is so obvious that its painful. you can do better than this; think of some analogies to happiness and sorrow that makes the reader think a little.

Marvel at your verses.
You want perfect poems:
Passionate, intelligent, thought-provoking.
You want all others
to throw down their pens in frustration
That they just can’t be as good as you.

the last line is incredibly juvenile, like something a 3rd grader would say: "oh, you're not as good as me!" make it poetic. this is a poem, after all. the rest of that section is decent, by the way, although nothing actually jumped out at me as being innovative or wonderful.

You want lines of fans
Begging for autographs or pictures,
Advice or lessons.

um, do poets ever get lines of fans, autographs, etc? I thought that was always for novelists and movie stars...i've never seen this happen to a poet before. so it doesnt make sense why you put this in, especially since it sounds like the narrator is saying this by taking inspiration from someone.

Too bad.
This very site is evidence
Of the vast numbers of others
Each praying for the same.

i dont see whats so poetic about this stanza. its just a comment. it might as well be compressed into one line because it sounds like something a person would say snidely right off the bat. and it comes off as a helpful tip rather than a piece to a work of poetry.

I myself settled long ago
For the simple feeling
Of scanning once more the things I wrote,
And realizing that it’s good.

okay, but what's the feeling? you left me hanging here without explaining anything.

Perhaps not great, perhaps not best,
But still good.
Then, three reviews
doesn't disappoint so much.

your saying that ordinarily, reviews disappoint you? what, you dont want people to find anything wrong with your work? i'm sorry to say that that statement is very shallow and condescending.

in general...i didn't see the point of this poem, it sounds like something an administrator would post on the notifications section of the forum. but i guess if you were just going for a half-warning, half-poem rather than a complete poem, this works.