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What Is a Failed Poet?

From The Somerville News:

Somerville poets respond
Off The Shelf by Doug Holder

I posed this question to local poets of my acquaintance: "What is a failed poet?" I hear the term used all the time, but what does it mean? How do you define a failed poet? Is there such a thing?


Good blog post by Doug--worth a read. So I ask you, is there such a thing as failed poet?
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Anonymous said…
Definitely no such thing. The only failure is the poet that gives up. I think media use "failed" to mean a few things, like, never achieved ultimate potential, or was never well-received by the world and so could never achieve ultimate potential...but generally, that's all crap b/c poetry is for you, and your readers. Not a critic.
3:58 PM
Odessa said…
I agree with poetwithadayjob, there's no such thing. I think being a poet is a way of seeing the world. And even if one is not writing poems, I still wouldn't consider him/her a "failed poet".
1:07 AM
Anonymous said…
All poetry is personal so there is no failure when writing poems for yourself.
8:46 AM
Joyce Ellen Davis said…
I'm still reading about William Stafford (as told wonderfully by his son, Kim, in EARLY MORNING: Remembering My Father)--He was not as well-known as many other poets, but was never "failed" because of that. He was all-inclusive, welcomed all poets into the circle as long as they
told "their own puzzling story" with honesty, by paying attention and speaking their own truth.

A poet is "failed" only if that is how he sees himself.
2:51 PM
Joyce Ellen Davis said…
Or herself....

:)
2:53 PM
Kay Cooke said…
Maybe it is more a self-definition than anything else. Only we ourselves know when we haven't measured up to an ambition. Or is it a little like being a lapsed catholic ... a term I apply to myself sometimes and then at other times, I don't really believe I am at all ... ooh. Confusing!
5:41 AM
Kay Cooke said…
Wow I didn't read Joyce's comment until after I'd posted ... was surprised and more than a little pleased to see she said something similar ... :)
5:44 AM
Ananda said…
i agree with poetwithadayjob and odessa. i would add that everyone is a creative being with poetry coming out in the way they live and interact with the world.
2:52 PM
January said…
I completely agree. Poetry is so personal that it's hard to really be a failure at it.

Even though there I times that my poems fail, or could be working harder, I've never felt like a failed poet.
10:12 PM
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