I think poets write so many poems about poetry because in our high specialized world, few people can describe a trade other than their own.
I have to admit that my favorite poem about poetry is by Kipling. I quote from memory and am leaving out the Cockney accent:
When Homer smote his blooming lyre,
He'd heard men sing by land and sea,
And what he thought he might require
He went and took - the same as me.
The market girls and fisher men,
The shepherds and the sailors too,
They heard old songs turn up again,
But kept it quiet - same as you.
They knew he stole, he knew they knowed;
They didn't tell nor make a fuss
But winked at Homer down the road,
And he winked back - the same as us.
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