Okay - I'll play the heavy. John, you're a wonderful and amusing poet, and a fine old fellow, and a maddening Tory, and everything in between - but you're also abusing some very sensible Sphere guidelines by posting one of your poems in General Talk, and somebody's gotta say something.
The problem is that if John Whitworth or anybody else wants to put up a poem on General Talk, than
anybody can put up their poem, there are enough members who would jump at the opportunity, and the joint would become a vanity site/chat room. And since we can't have a rule that says "No posting on General Talk unless you're lovable and irascible old John Whitworth, or somebody of equal stature," there is one that says, "
...you may only post your own poems in the workshop forums and nowhere else..." and it's [posted right at the top of General Talk and numerous other places. And, entertaining as that particular poem may be, it's a rule that makes sense for the overall good and functioning of the Sphere.