Intro to Poetry

Of all the paintings I've seen of poets, I appreciate (if not understand) Chagall's "The Poet" best: I'm taking an intro to poetry class this summer, and I thought I should finally get around to sharing some of my own thoughts and things I have learned this summer.

(1) A lot of poetry, especially the contemporary stuff, I either do not get or do not like, and no 200-level course is really going to change that. And that's okay. I'm at peace with my being at odds with it.
(2) I still love words.
(3) My professor, an old and large lady who grew up in Oklahoma and swears like a sailor, who taught third grade and was a lawyer by trade, thinks I "would be a good English major, if (I) didn't want a job."
(4) There is still a huge part of me that wishes I had time and talent enough to write. Not only do I love a good story, and not only do I love the penumbra of bits of language, but it's a cathartic process for me, and I need to start doing it again--even if it means writing bad poetry in the corners of my room and never letting another soul see it.
(5) You really read different things into poetry and have different opinions about it depending on your own life experience and the mood you're in while you're reading it. For example, I'm in a bad mood today. And going to class was the two longest hours of my life. And I didn't say a word. And the poets sucked. And they were too transparent. And their subject matter hit too close to home or was too far off base for me to enjoy the experience. But other days are not like that at all.
(6) I had no idea what "Ars Poetica" really meant until I had to compare four poets, and now I don't know where I stand on the issue myself.
(7) I will never give participation points in my class. It's lame.