Freedom of expression in Poetry.

[Leanne]

Oh come on, all of us can tell when a writer is depicting a horrific scene and when the writer is stating his or her personal views on a controversial subject.

Not if it's a good poem -- that is, for the duration of a well-written poem, the author is absent and all that is present is the voice speaking to the reader. If we absolutely must place so much emphasis on "what the writer is thinking", we're not experiencing the poem, we're judging the poet.

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I lie all the time in poems. I am really a middle-aged lorry driver from Ilford, and my only vice is the burning need to eviscerate puppies.