The number of people writing poems is vast, and their reasons for doing so are many, that much can be surmised from the stacks of submissions.
Usually a life turned into a poem is misrepresented.
Pain is filtered in a poem so that it becomes finally, in the end, pleasure.
Poetry is, first and last, language - the rest is filler.
I think the best American poetry is the poetry that utilizes the resources of poetry rather than exploits the defects or triumphs of the poet's personality.
How can I sing? Time tells me what I am. I change and I am the same. I empty myself of my life and my life remains.