Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair*

[Original post removed for depuzzling.]

What I mean is, I am a reader of my own poems. And so are you, dear reader. But we will probably never read them the same way. This is my failing, not yours, if it is a failing. As an experiment, I try to become more like you. I will never be like you.

When I play my reader role I am also playing my writer role, whether I am reading me or you.

I am always playing my reader/writer/editor role, whether I am reading me or you. It is one role.

Reader sez: Look what that poem did. I like or don't like that. How did the writer get that poem to do that?

Writer sez: Look what that poem did. I like or don't like that. How did that poem do that? Did I do that? Can I do it again?

Editor sez: Look what that poem did. I know how the writer got the poem to do that. See how that poem could do that better? Look what else that poem can do if the writer does it this way. These are the poem's own terms and here is how the writer can best achieve success within those terms.

Critic sez: Look what that poem did. I like or don't like that. How does this poem compare to other poems by this poet or other poets? In what ways does it succeed or fail compared to those other poems? What is the context for this poem? Does this poem succeed according to the terms its context expects of it?

But let's hush the critic for now.

*Evolving possibly disappearing post.