Poetic Rhetoric Discourages Readers

In a forum recently someone asked, "How do you judge poetry?" I sensed an explosive topic immediately, probably posted by a frustrated poet . Frustrated at not getting work published, not winning a contest and most likely not appreciating someone else's poem that won a contest. I didn't step into the fray, feeling that critiquing poetry is even more intensely personal than writing a book review. As Nancy Breen points out in her post in Poetic Asides:

No wonder it's so hard to attract readers to poetry. Once they sense that one way or another they're going to get dragged into an intellectual throw-down ("Ewww, you read that guy?" "Oh, please--poetry that doesn't rhyme is just crap!"), they run for the hills.

You don't have to defend your work, style or taste if others don't appreciate it--you probably don't like theirs, either. Let's de-escalate the rhetoric that surrounds poetry and get on with the enjoyment!