Introducing myself by the way of poetry---3WW

Bridge, Disturbed, Still

sb poet of watermark fame wants us to introduce ourselves. In the way of poetry. No, not by writing poetry. That I will do in another post for which I was tagged. I have taken her questions too. Please do introduce yourself here or on your blog. Just don't forget to link back here or to sbpoet! You can change these questions or make your own.

• Do you read poems?
• If no, why not?
• Do you write poems?
• If yes, whatever for?
• What, for you, makes a poem a good poem?

Do you read poems?

Yes, of course I read poetry. I read all the older as well as newer poets, Shakespeare, Wordsmith, Keats, Byron, Browning, Burns, Frost, Yeats, Syvia Plath (Some may get disturbed reading Plath but her words carry a lot of power), Dorothy Parker, Mary Oliver, Emily Dickinson, Charles Simic to name only a few.

Do you write poems? If yes, whatever for?

Yes, I do. All the time. I taught myself to write it. Why do I write it? To give an outlet to my creativity, I take up a lot of social issues in my poetry. I give vent to my feelings. I express myself via poetry. Poetry helps me understand myself. Poetry can bridge the gap left by emotional upheaval, in our heart and soul. It gives me a certain direction. There is some compulsion to write it down. Sometimes it gushes out. Others, I make myself write it. Many times what I intended to write flows in another direction. I seldom write intensly personal poetry. Or love poetry. Still, reading poetry is more pleasurable than writing it down.

What, for you, makes a poem a good poem?

That which moves me deeply, creates vivid images in my mind, is well worded, conveys by speaking out to me. Understanding the poem is important. Using words, which don't make sense fails in the very purpose of poetry writing. Symbolism too should be such which touches our very soul. I like both simple poetry as well as complicated ones.

What puts you off while reading poems ? Online or otherwise?

I will take online poetry. Most are written instantly and are really good. However, I am put off by misspellings and bad or improper usage of punctuations. (*Update: I corrected it here. I think it distracted people from talking about what I wrote before.)