Education All Poems Are Not Auto-Biographical

My first poem was published when I was 9 years old (the current age of my oldest daughter). Since then I have written hundreds of thousands of poems. Some which will never see beyond my chicken-scratch journals and notebooks and some that have made their way into poetry books and anthologies, magazines and online publications. One of the most common problems or irritations I have with sharing my poetry, especially with people that I know, is that they always think the poems are auto-biographical. While some are about me, not all are. Many are about friends or family, people I have met, things I have seen or just my view on something or how I think I would feel if something happened to me. People read a poem I wrote and say "I'm so sorry this happened to you" or "I never knew about this" when the poem wasn't even about me. In many cases, I don't even use the term I so the reader is just assuming it to be about me. I understand how the assumption is made but it's just not how I write poetry. When I began writing as a child, I would write about things I saw my friends struggle with as a way to give a voice to their pain. I didn't tell people who it was about but those who knew it was for them, I know were touched by the fact that someone understands their pain. This continued as I grew older and while all of my poems are about someone I knew or something that happened in my life, they are not all a direct reflection of my own experiences. Sometimes they are a reflection of my views on the experiences of those close to me. I think that some people have a difficult time seeing the poem as it exists- just a standalone poem- and they always want to make something of it like it's a piece of gossip to share about my life. That's not what poetry is to me. It's a way to express, to tell a story or share an idea, to have fun and to release from stressors and pressures of the day. Poetry is a freedom for me and while I will always enjoy writing it, I don't always feel like explaining it. I want my readers to enjoy the poem without the need for me to over explain why I wrote it or who it was about. I know that not all poets write this way but it's what works for me and it's what I enjoy. Another note to add is that just because I publish a poem today that I wrote at some point in my life, it does not mean that I am feeling that way right now in my life. A poem about breakup or depression doesn't mean that I have just left my husband. Keep this in mind when reading my poetry that not all poems are auto-biographical and even those that are may not be a reflection of where I'm currently at in my life. I know the same can also be said for many other poets that I know. article submission sites