I enjoyed Adrian Matejka’s
The Big Smoke, Joan Houlihan’s
Ay and Steven Cramer’s
Clangings, all examples of modern persona poems. One can even write in the persona of a former self, as Marilyn Nelson does in
How I Discovered Poetry.
There is so much depth and care needed to consider and remain faithful to voice of a persona, and I think that the precise words and references in this poem make it accomplished.
Not every persona is likable, but the human experience is vast and, of course, there is room for all (or most!) of it in poetry.
For example, in AI's poem:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171245
Poems like this are hard to read and write. Congrats to the author.
Eileen