Disclaimer

So, after posting my suggestion that folks read Billy Collins' poem about illness, I happened upon someone in a writing forum to which I belong criticizing him for what she saw as his misogyny. 

I am not going to investigate whether, or to what extent, Billy Collins is sexist. If you are someone who has seen evidence of this in his work and are offended by it, I only ask that you excuse my allusion to his poem. 

The whole question of whether to judge one's work or one's character or a combination of the two, or intent, or audience - all of that - when reading poetry, or any other literature, is a huge tangle and something that I am still considering. Perhaps when I have my head around my own opinion on the matter, I will write it down. And then post it here. For the two readers (whom I suspect to be 'bots) that visit these entries in the middle of the night to enjoy.