Poetry People - Conversation on Poets

I think the best poetry combines elements of both feeling and intellect . . . too much emotion without substance is wishy-washy . . . too much subtance without emotion is, well, clinical.   Personally, I have trouble 'feeling' a poem if I don't understand it.   I don't think that the beauty of meaning in a poem has to do with intellectual snobbery.  To me, it's a reflection of life . . . peeling back the layers . . . The meaning doesn't have to be completely obscure, or hidden in references that only the educated elite can understand.  The best poems, to me, are where the layers are found as easily as picking up a rock, or looking behind a leaf . . . or having a new life experience that opens a new door.  It's exciting.