Poetry is not my cup of tea. I find in my readings, an air of arrogance in terms of interpretation of meanings by the author that comes off when reading. In reading "At Night My Hat" by Matthew Dickman is an example I find frustrating. The poem starts off well enough setting a mood of loneness, wishing for someone to greet him when he gets home. But as you keep reading the meaning changes and becomes more convoluted. The hat changes symbolism to life goals, changing the metaphor completely.
Poetry is mostly a very short form of writing. The meaning needs to stay consist throughout the piece. You can't just change a major part of the poem and thus the theme mid poem. I feel an author needs to maintain what exactly their symbols mean in a consistent matter that is appropriate to the piece. You usually don't have that much space to get your message across, and the last thing you want to do as an author is get the message messed up and interpreted the wrong way.
By: Phillip Cobey
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