I've written thousands of poems, begun thousands more, and only 2 projects of mine have made it to my publication stage, and I am so proud of those works. And I am so glad nothing else of mine has yet been published. I scrutinize my work before putting it out there anymore, but I used to just be so proud of anything I mustered up to write, which is great for someone who is a beginner writer, learning the ins and outs of the craft, but to publish, I feel like more people need to take more mind to really hone their flow to paper, and more time to edit their work after it's down on paper to mean what they are really trying to say.
For me, when I'm writing, I'm just barely keeping up with my thoughts, and half the time I'm scrambling to get everything I can onto paper or computer, so to then publish that would mean that most of my published writing would make little sense and even less of what I actually mean. And I think it's the same for most writers of poetry, unfortunately, but it is what it is and we therefore have to work with that.
After a considerable amount of years and time dedicated to writing poetry, I've begun setting new poems aside to edit a million times and look at often over the years before putting them out there to any public. And most of those poems end up in my own wastebasket. I used to want to publish as much as possible, and I looked forward to volumes and volumes just spewing from me, because I thought all my work was top shelf, but over time I have come to realize that there are flaws in most poems, somewhere, and yes, in my opinion, those flaws are a bad thing. Some people argue that it shows your true self and your real thoughts to include your writing flaws, and since the genuine person is what readers of poetry want to see, that writing flaws are ok. What I want to see is someone that knows themselves enough to be able to edit their work to represent what they truly feel, and to be able to express themselves through the editing process, because a flawed piece paints a flawed picture of the artist. The artist may have flaws, but everything is describable, including all flaws, given the proper amount of words, and to not describe properly is to paint an improper picture, and poetry is a picture in words, so description is all we have.
It's only partially forgivable, and that is only because it's innocent. Poets- just like anyone else in any other profession- learn through experience, and though that experience could be learned through the stories of others, it most of the time will not be learned by such means, and instead will be many more unfinished poems published for us all to witness and sift through. I just hope none of those poems are published by me, though, in all reality, some just might be. But darn it, it's worth a try to avoid.
(Password is citrus)
