best piece of advice i've received

the best peace of advice i got was from an elderly poet. it was one of my very first readings in public, i was 21 i think, and nervous as hell. i thought back then that poetry most be raw and painful, an exercise in exposing the most humiliating parts of your life. i was young and dumb and stumbled thru the reading and was very apologetic about it all.

the older poet said to me, when i stepped back to the table after reading, she said, never apologize.

never hem and haw. get to it. and don't be such an agoniste.

i've learned that poems may be part of expression they are not always self-expression and they are not always a laboratory for examining the shallow pools of personal pain.

never apologize for poetry.

never apologize for being a poet.

just be.

[from a comment i posted at jim knowle's blog]