Entry to Poetry

Coming into poetry, I was not very excited. I love reading poetry, but I do not enjoy writing poetry. Over the past few days, I have learned that there are many differnet methods of poetry, and differnt ways to present it. I was very facinated by the poetry slam because the writer is showing the emotion that they want the poem to describe. One reason I dont like poetry is because I dont like looking for the meaning that the author tries to present. I like to see it off the bat. I like to enjoy poetry after reading it, and I dont like reading and pounding into poetry just to find the meaning. Poetry slam is like writing poetry to me as well. I am not a writer, especailly when it comes to poetry, and I am not an actor. I could not stand up and act infront of people and show my meaning of a poem. But I love to watch people in the poetry slam, and I love to read other peoples poems. One thing I have learned from the past few days, is that the reader has their own meaning to their poem, and it is not up to the reader to make his own meaning. I like knowing that there is a meaning purposly put into poetry, but I almost do not like that because then I have to spend time on most poems trying to figure out the meaning, and hoping the meaning that I come up with is the meaning that was meant to be there.