>I am not what I would call a poet of any kind and I only generally ramble off what I attempt to pass as poems at ungodly hours when the emotions are high and the wine bottle is low. lol. Somehow those moments seem to raise a heightened level of emotion and creativity, so it is the only time I would ever attempt it.

Hahaha. I think creating poetry in such states is a somewhat more *productive* use of them, since we end up with a sort of "abstract journal entry" into our present experience that, if we do nothing else with it, can be insightful or at least entertaining to look back on once the moment has passed. I encourage you to continue writing them if you find it fun and tell the "inner critic" to kindly "piss off!"

When I started writing poetry in 2011 or so, then more fervently in 2013 and onwards, I knew absolutely nothing about what I was doing; I had never read much poetry to speak of, I just found it a good emotional outlet at a time I was enduring immense internal suffering. I cringe when I read those poems but they are also kind of endearing and they started me down the path of a new and exciting form of creativity.

There are gaps of years where I hardly wrote at all; when I came to blog my poetry daily in 2017 I certainly did not consider myself a poet. I think only after writing hundreds of pieces, beginning to study excellent poets of the past in the English language and resonating with their work, learning from those wiser and more experienced than me in the 100 Days of Poetry project did it begin to dawn on me that I could perhaps consider myself to be a poet.

....

I find it most helpful, to counteract the effect of society's expectation that to be titled something one must be an expert at it, to instead interpret these titles in the most literal way. I.e. I write, therefore I am a writer. I write poetry, therefore I am a poet. I cook and create recipes, therefore I am a chef. Ultimately it makes no difference to me how skilled I am considered by others insofar as I am primarily interested in exploring the communication of intangible sentiments, states of consciousness, and unique worldly experiences. 

>I have derailed...

Writing is always like that for me, incessantly tangential :-D !ENGAGE 40

>So I thought that was what I would post today. Still need to go and find some of them and compile it all later, but I have been so busy catching up on the reading and commenting of all the "steem story" posts.... took me days to do that but am finally up to date wooohooo!

Looking forward to seeing that, and I totally know what you mean... I got so burnt out looking at scores of poems daily over the course of 3 months; though I enjoyed the interchange of energy I found the sheer quantity was totally overwhelming!