1. how would you describe your style (whether part of an existing school/movement or newly defined)?
I don't know about style; the manifestoes seem so absolute. But the essential aspects to me are:
- the music of the words themselves
- clarity of meaning (whether concrete or abstract doesn't matter, as long as the picture is clear)
- framing and scoping: fitting the poem to the subject
I believe I'm showing nothing new to readers, but if I'm doing it right, reintroducing existing beauty in a different light or frame.
So, I think my sympathies have much in common with Imagism and Acmeism, based on the reference link.
2. what purpose(s) do you think your poetry serves (to entertain, to provoke thought, to incite revolution, to make the reader horny, etc)?
No manifesto, except that art should make us feel good, in a way that only art can. That's what I'm after.
To me, poems need to do two things that prose doesn't aim for:
1. paint a rich picture: reach past the literal
2. make the words delicious: use the rhythms and sensation of words as they fill the mouth
I aim to bring to the reader a feeling of elevation - that intangible feeling I get when I've read something marvelous, or when I've toured an art gallery. Or when I've listened to beautiful music (Debussy does this for me immediately).
It's the experience of seeing beauty - physical beauty, a wondrous idea, or the ingenious way in which it's expressed - that makes me feel more aware, feel like part of a world that appears finer for the experience.
I want for people to feel more alive, more aware of the beauty we tend to overlook every day.
3. what, if anything, do you derive from the act of writing poetry that would otherwise be missing in your life?
It's fun, it's work, and I feel like I've accomplished something worthwhile - that I've contributed to existence. But I only get that feeling if I've done my absolute best with the poem. Dashing them off doesn't fulfill me at all.
But more than that - writing poems connects me with
people who appreciate poetry. That's what really elevates me. As a reader, I feel the same way: connected.
I'm not interested in writing confessional or expository poems; I don't like airing my feelings to the general public, and I don't want to bore them. Those poems usually (not always) are of intense interest to no one but the poet.
I don't need to talk about my feelings to feel connected. A poem is intrinsically an expression of love, a celebration of the beauty that exists and only needs to be named to be shared. So, confiding my feelings in a poem would be redundant.