what’s coming down the pipe:
You know what’s coming down the pipe. It’s unavoidable at this point. Too many people stopped caring. That’s all it takes.
The depth of this feels with: The depth of this feels with understanding what many a modern person exists with and denies with their outward veneer; we have but to see social media posts and interactions as to the veracity of this truth. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you. Back in the day we: Thank you. Back in the day we were prohibited by our tutors from writing anything about the topic of poetry as if it were a deadly sin against the art. It felt strange and out of place. And each time a poem about poetry arises, I feel an inner tug and a feeling of doing something that breaks the tenets of poetry itself. LOL.
As a caterpillar enshrouds in: As a caterpillar enshrouds in its cocoon so a chrysalis emerges not quite the worm that it used to be. An inspiring prompt. Thanks for sharing. /Rik.
very poignant and filled with: very poignant and filled with a back story that the outside observer can only desperately fill with their own backstory... thanks for sharing. /Rik.
I have fallen too far behind: I have fallen too far behind in my reading; I apologize. I am very glad to have read this beautiful poem, and I cannot add anything to what Patricia has already said. The poem is very impressive and has my applause.
I just had to visit this: I just had to visit this magnificent poem again. It resonates so deeply, and raises such echoes of other poems that I have read in the decades since I began reading poetry, that I am almost overwhelmed by admiration, nostalgia, and a sense that I will be visiting this poem again and again. Few poems strike me this deeply, but this one did!
For decades I have loved: For decades I have loved poems that are about writing poetry---like many of Wallace Stevens'. The virginal leaves of the ninth line echoes and allude to the "leaf" simile in Homer's Iliad and John Milton's Paradise Lost. This poem demonstrates your customary verbal elegance.