Poems and Reality

When I posted a recent poem on another website, I realized that judging by the comments, that people thought it depicted an actual event. Often times, my poems DO reflect, quite directly, a recent experience. Sometimes, however, they reflect more of a state of mind than state of events. The nature of poetry is that it can travel anywhere, be anything, take almost any shape. Poetry is as fluid as the mind that creates it. In that regard,  poetry may be the most accurate reflection of the poet's "mind print."  Just as everyone has a unique finger prints, I believe everyone has a signature mind print, a  thought process unique to him or her. Some folks think rather concretely and their poems reflect that. Others are more abstract. The challenge for me, has always been to try to create OUTSIDE the box my mind is in. My ultimate goal with my best poetry is to break through the boundaries that tend to limit me. I encourage readers, then, not to be too caught up with what event or person a given poem refers to because, sometimes, an event or person may just be a spring board into something unique. It may reflect a secret wish or not at all. I will admit, it always DOES reflect something going on in my mind but that doesn't mean too much because my mind has been known to wander in very unlikely pathways, something like a trip through The Looking Glass. It is my contention that the best poetry almost always involves that looking glass to some extent, a chance to bend the mind to acknowledge and perceive a different reality, a way to shouting to the reader: "Don't be so fucking literal!"