Need

There is a need for good worthwhile poetry, and it seems the poetry world, if there is one, seems to be heading off in some downward, away from aesthetic principle (not creating new ones to the objections of the old schools) and toward nothingness.
I read all the major journals today and I don't even want to read another one when it comes in the mail.

I am always amazed that todays trend of poetry, and there are trends, tend to not have anything poetical within the subject of the poem. Once all the trappings of the form are taken away, what is left is some weird garbage-thought, or something packed full of snooty irony, or some dumb half-thought. Why would I want to read anything like the stuff packed into lit mags these days?

I wonder if the truth is that the writers can't actually think of anything worthwhile to say? If you can't draw, scribble.

However, possibly it is best not to say anything: if you do, people will object.

Ego

I've been away, sort of away from art, and to family. I gave no resistance.
What interests me in the process of coming back, reading what people write about poetry, is how much is pure ego. I can't believe how much of what people write is ego.
When you write, leave your ego behind.