Judgment

Some time ago,
I joined a 'dinner club' email list,
Looking for new friends.

One day a note comes in:
Someone announcing their poetry site.

I rushed right over to the site
Hoping I'd find a kindred spirit:
Someone who, like me,
Puts their feelings into poems,
And publishes their poems on the web.

I didn't find a single poem
That I liked worth a damn.

On the one hand I think:
Who am I to judge the work
Of someone who publishes on the web
As I do.

On the other hand,
I've read and appreciated
The work of great poets:
The famous ones printed in bestsellers
The homeless ones live at Stone Soup.

Should I be bold
And express an opinion?
Or should I hang back,
And not presume to say
What is good or bad poetry?

I learned from those poems
That I did not find a kindred spirit.

I think those poems sucked.


	24 July 2001
	by Bill Cattey