Usually a life turned into a poem is misrepresented.
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.
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.
