People play football/tennis/chess/amateur dramatics etc., because they want to. People write poetry because they want to.
Yes... I agree. And the reasons that lie behind their wanting to write it are many.
You don't 'cut to the chase,' but you cut to the Truth. Whatever that is?
I agree with your sculpture analogy... though the finished form of sculptures and of poetry vary vastly. When you pose the question "Whatever that is?" I want to add, "And whoever's that is." I'm not trying to justify what some might consider to be 'bad' poetry; but Realities and Truths vary, as I know you know.
When I think of the sculpture analogy, I think of being in a sculpting class [the class issue still being a relevant factor] and the difference between the instructor stopping to look at a work-in-progress from differing angles, encouraging the student with what seems to be working and where some excess clay might be removed; another direction that some might be nudged; and other such refinements, regardless of the stage... or, maybe, even just pointing out that it seems a bit bulky here or there or sparse there or somewhere else... and how do they feel about moving things around a bit... welcoming them to try on their own and, if they want any suggestions, a willingness to give them. Comparing that scenario to working at an entry-level Sculpture 101 or 102 class and having the instructor come by and start pushing and probing the clay into other areas, slicing some off with the sculpting tool, and standing back, saying, "Now there you go... isn't that better?" A picture of a fallen face and slumped shoulders comes to mind, with the student replying, "Yeah, I guess it does... but I was really wanting to do it myself." Or, "I know it didn't look as good as it could, yet... but I was getting there." Or, "I really had something else in mind. It was of my dog and my dog had put on a lot of weight before he died, and the way I was moving the clay was the way I remembered him... and it was almost there. I wish you'd have asked me first what my intention was." A lot of different ideas come to mind. Still, the idea of agreement seems so integral. Signing up for a class is both an explicit and implicit agreement as to a certain degree of interactions. Still, there's a more subtle level of agreement that occurs, even there. It's the difference between the student's feeling empowered or disempowered.
For people who aren't published writers or poets or playwrights, coming to a site and a section such as this can be very intimidating. Garnering the courage to post something they've written can be monumental. Finally doing it, and then being left to feel invisible or ridiculed or having what they've written be hijacked and handed back in 'better' form, can range from totally disheartening to angering to gut-wrenching. There may be a lot more to it, but it seems to me that the mere matters of agreement and respect go a long way to making for a fruitful exchange.
I don't fancy myself a poet critic, so the concrete suggestions relating to the mechanics of poetry are unlikely to ever come from me. However, if a person wants to know how 'the common man or woman' might perceive what they've written, I qualify as one of them, and I can tell them how it impacted me. I'll never pretend for it to be more than that. None of this, however, deprives that feedback of merit. It just needs to be understood in its own and 'proper' context.
Your "Why be normal?" portion of your signature also makes a point.
It occurred to me, with regard to my and Red Poppy's exchanges that the likelihood is probably much higher with someone who has written a novel or novella or piece of fiction or a play that their goal is to eventually get it... or a collection of them... published. I would guess that his peers who have engaged at these levels of writing really have had the goal of being published. Poetry, as a whole, I feel has tended to be a more personal form of expression; and the goals that come with writing thoughts, feelings, and ideas in poetic form are likely to vary substantially from those of someone who undertakes to write literature, such as novels and plays.
~ Lizzy
"Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken."
~ Oscar Wilde