nogroup

Down at the Mercantile Library, they are getting together a poetry-writing group to meet at Wednesday lunchtimes, or perhaps even only once a month. My initial reaction to this bit of news was, “Eeek! I ain’t going near that!” Since then, I have had a lot of time to reflect on the possibilities of the group, and now my reaction is, “Eeek! I ain’t going near that!”

I am relieved yet again to find out that I am consistent. But why, you ask, would a good poet like me not want to join a poetry-writing group? I ask it of myself.

Answers: I don’t need it — can people who are not as good as me teach me anything about poetry?

I’m too harsh a critic — if a poem is bad, I can’t really say it’s not. I’m not built for teaching poetry. Calculus, I could do. Mathematics is beyond the personal. Poetry I build out of me. It’s only personal.