Who was Walt Whitman before Walt Whitman was Walt Whitman?

[Todd]

This response may well get me kicked off the site.  So be it. When we respond to the critique given we are supposed to be humble and thankful.  Generally I am. I have learned so much here. However I feel as though I must respond to the above remarks.

I'm not a good poet. Nor am I a good judge of good poetry. I  know that. I apologize for not including your particular poetic heroes. Frankly I am not a lover of Whitman or Dylan.  The point was, if our heroes, whoever they are,  were to show up today, what would we say . Sometimes we have to extrapolate. We have to see what is meant beyond what is said,

Forgive me for taking exception.

Let me clarify a point for you. It's ok to read a comment and think, "I don't agree with that at all." or "I don't like the tone in that." or "And how is that supposed to be helpful."

You are free to accept or blow off any critique in whole or in part. Even when you get a profoundly negative response, it is helpful to note that someone really didn't like your poem. General protocol would be just saying: "Thank you for the comments."

It helps you not come across as defensive and encourages others to comment on your work. What you did here doesn't irritate me, but you're inviting a sort of back and forth discussion that can stray from the poem. It's better to just thank them and move on even if you don't agree. It's a general rule to which there are of course always exceptions--but 99.999% of the time: Thank you is the best course.