Poetry for me has been an everlasting struggle to defy the world around me and the reality I find myself contained in.  "to establish or continue no tradition except one that literally can't exist- the celebration of the singular thought sung at a particular instant in a unique voice."  This quote by Joel Brouwer in observance of Alice Notley's poetry has struck me very intensely.  I began writing songs for a punk rock band when I was 11-12 years old and quickly adopted a need for non-conformity.  But as Alice Notely says in her essay, you cannot just deny conformity for the sake of being different, which was an ignorant mistake I made for quite a few years.  You have to open yourself up and take from your-self a truly honest voice.  Also that you shouldn't be afraid to alienate those that may have praised your work or tend to find meaning it what you say.  This is something that I have struggled with since day one, how do you fight your own sense of reality and others around you?  With each new piece you must recreate nothing, not to throw out what you have read and poetic dictations, but not stop yourself when you're moving in a direction you have been told is "wrong" or "illogical."  Poetry, as I have observed, can be the clearest way to present your view of reality in a completely unrealistic way.  Whatever your thoughts bring to you, should be taken and spit out before analyzing each one.  The use of our muse writes has helped me channel this concept, often I don't use any sort of poetic form, I just throw word after word down onto the page and see what I find in the rubble of my thoughts.  Poetry will something different to everyone and we cannot be worried about it means to them or anyone else.  We need to disobey convention, our simplified, politically-correct existence will not bring honesty to fruition.  We must look outside of the world around us and ourselves to achieve clarity.  Alice Notley;'s essay, for me, was a push to get going and see how far I can take the written word. 
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/essay/238698