I have two thoughts on Esther's comments. I disagree with Arthur's main point, but I think I understand what is driving him and I share his concern. The literary elite has established a banal and inbred infrastructure that reinforces the perceived value of vacuous claptrap. A successful poet today has to insulate himself or herself from all that to be truly successful as opposed to winning some grants and publishing stuff nobody really understands or likes. Like Gerald Hartnett at the late journal Hellas and the distinguished "Old Formalist" Richard Moore, I think Arthur is concerned we will degrade our poetry if we come up with a formal-friendly version of that culture.
Arthur's worry is a legitimate concern, but ultimately poetry is a public act of communication, and you can't write great poems solely in isolation. Someone has to hear them, and to teach you how they are being received. Since each listener is somewhat idiosyncratic, a poet needs a range of reactions to sift the helpful comments from the unhelpful, which is what places like Eratosphere offer.
A number of people post here who react badly to criticism because they feel they poems are "done". Invariably, I feel that these people "finish" their poems in their own mind prematurely, and would benefit from continuing to push for perfection as hard as they can. This is not to say you should address every concern--a committee has yet to write a great poem--but most poems first exposed to public scrutiny can be improved at least a bit, and it is a mistake to think otherwise. Also, even the greatest poets of our time circulate and revise drafts. Unfortunately, I'm no threat to Richard Wilbur and I cannot just send my poems off to the best and brightest of the contemporary poetry scene (excluding Alan and Tim). Erato is a fine substitute for that, and I think members with the right attitude are finding this a helpful service.
I also think that if we don't develop a counterculture network, we can't create new outlets for our work and try to create an audience for accessible poetry. Without that, we will remain marginalized, and I believe too much in what we are doing to be content with that prospect.
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