A problem of we, you and I in a poem

Without any specific comment on any of the poems referred to, I think I can speak slightly to the the use of 'you' and 'i' in poems. It is my experience that the type of poetry that is generally generated using that perspective or angle is usually lazier and less refined than poetry that does not use that.

The general concept of 'showing' vs. 'telling' is much harder to do when one is talking from those particular voices. 'i' poems tend to be solely focused on internal feeling and abstract, and 'you' poems lean toward preaching.

I'm generalizing here,  I'm sure examples can be made of both types of poems that don't do any of those things at all, but I think the tendency makes it a wise rule of thumb to tread lightly on that ground.

Poetry, in my opinion, at its best offers a unique angle constructed using concise concrete writing.  Eschew the abstract in favor of the concrete images and then draw the parallells and build the metaphors that way.  I think that's generally the best way to avoid lazy writing anyways.

And it is lazy writing that quickly becomes unfathomable. The misunderstandings, I think, are always made worse when one tries to be vague and abstract. 

• stephan