POETIC ASPIRATIONS

i have a friend whose poetic expertise shows with 
every poem he writes
although it is heavily japanese oriented/ 
his poetry is both scholarly in nature, 
although it reflects many of his significant life's 
experiences

he belongs to a highly respected poetic collective 
in prestigious princeton, n.j.
which is more structured than i'd ever want

i'm just not establishmentarian 
i go with the spirit of the flow, wherever it takes me 
often enough to the extremes of man's capabilities

he's more reserved and does not touch on blatantly 
power driven themes like i do

he and i seem to differ when it comes to our 
poetic aspirations' 
i already have a national readership 
he confines himself to central new jersey 
i have grand hope of making it big 
he doesn't share that view with me

but then again. i have something to please 
anybody and everybody in my life's output of 
1100 poems
my appeal crosses most lines

so here we have two poets who approach the poetic 
arts differently;
much of his is at amherst college in a special collection; 
thousands of mine have been distributed throughout the 
united states

but the question i now ask is who's will survive 
to see the next century born?