[Roger Slater]

Would you really find it "embarrassing" if, for example, you had met Theodore Roethke and asked what he did, and he answered, "I'm a poet"? Would Louise Gluck be a posturing embarrassment if she claimed, during her Nobel acceptance speech, that she was a poet?

Tim, I suppose there are people you might hang out with who would laugh at you for saying you're a poet. Perhaps your co-workers who have a different mindset? I used to feel the same way, hiding my poetry writing from my office colleagues. But I grew up and just accepted that writing poetry is part of what defines me and nothing to be ashamed of.