Someone said he was just
“getting things off his chest”
not really writing poetry and
he got to thinking about that
and the function(s) of poetry
and how it is about all kinds
of
things (at least 55 differ-
ent forms not to mention an
infinite variety of content)
which includes the afore-
mentioned “getting things
off
one’s chest“ (idiomatic
phrase
not unlike the harsher
“venting
one’s spleen,”) and so, he address-
ed the criticism by writing this
so it would no longer “stick in
his craw.” Ultimately, isn’t it
all “in the eye of the beholder,”
anyway and shouldn’t we “first
remove the log from our own eye,
so we can see clearly to remove
the speck from our friend’s eye”?
There, the “bone of contention,”
is dislodged
and tossed in the
garbage behind closed doors where
the Chocolate Lab can “sniff it out”
but can’t get at
it.
bobdahl 
One man’s poetry is another man’s poison, especially if it smacks of a view of things contrary to a reader’s loyalties. And, you’re right about poetry: the last time I checked, any words written, including these, or those of the Bible, are a matter of getting something off our chest … and sometimes, even venting our spleen. Those “chest” origins are likely more coherent; but, heck, even the spleen is vital to our health. So, good friend, and skilled poet, let it rip, let it drip, let it flip … keep writing your poetry.