A couple of days ago, I received an email from an “expert” poet who believes that Poetrywithmeaning.com features terrible poets who do not know how to write. This comment made me quite angry! As much as I wanted to e-mail him back, I decided to refrain because I know what Poetrywithmeaning.com stands for… A hostile environment is completely opposite of our mission. It is true that we have some poets who are beginners and do make spelling errors. The reason I allow such poems to be placed on our site is for these poets to receive comments, connect with other writers, and GROW!

Instead of telling us that we do not have good writers, please think about what you are doing and take the extra step to help. Find out who the beginners and experts really are. You can comment on their poems, visit their personal websites, e-mail them helpful tips, and refer them to books. When you take the time to assist these poets, the results are amazing.

As far as our site is concerned, we do not want selfish people promoting their own style as the best. We are not looking for people to come to our site to advance their works and show a complete disrespect for other artists. Poets posses unique styles and degrees of writing. This is much more than a website with a few words. These poems mean the world to the artists. Treat them with respect and I am sure they too will reciprocate in time.

Poetrywithmeaning.com is out to make a difference, not a profit. Our goal is to see the artists on this page grow from beginner to professional, with book deals along the way. This may sound absurd, but I can assure you that if we all come together as a writing community, this will become an easy task. Before this can be accomplished, I ask that we treat each other with respect and dignity. Some poets on the site have never previewed their poems to the public.

The e-mail I received was a huge disappointment to me but at the same time, it made me remember what our goal at Poetrywithmeaning.com is. I am glad I received the
e-mail but, I am upset that people are so caught up in their own self interests that they cannot take a few seconds to help another artist with their poetry. All I ask of you is that you come here with an open mind and you remember that there are people from different stages of writing on the site! I hope that all of you do this because it means so much to you, the words you write are your experiences, your emotions, everything!