Tim:	We can learn from unsuccessful poems by asking, "why did it fail?" It is also useful what makes some poems successful.
Bob:	Be careful with the words "succeed" and "fail." Often what appears to be a "success" may be a failure in some ways, yet what is scorned as a "failure" might be successful by a different gauge.
Tim:	Good point! Let me be candid: most of your 1999 poem seems like a tedious tirade against one person. In some ways, it reminds me of the tirades that JS Bach launched against the theologist Johann August Ernesti.
Bob:	Part of being human is having squabbles, but against the backdrop of time and space, gradually such altercations have less and less significance.
Tim:	I'd like to take a few parts of your poem and creatively play with it.

Lessons in Darkness & Light:

Reflections for Art History Instructors

Who likes to listen to tales of darkness
or off-colored wrongs?

Who is fond of melancholy
or doleful songs?

Though most people experience suffering & pain
being no strangers to disdain
life is a precious gift
& within God's Musical Score
both woe and joy
are parts of the encore.

Why worry about pleasure or pain?
Both quickly fade.

Why not remember we are Children of Art,
undaunted by failure & willing to restart

Art is not merely a matter of conformity;
it also a spark
spiritual remodeling.

Left-brain logic is a useful tool,
but right-brain insights contain more wisdom
than learned at school.

So enjoy the Music in the Song of Life
rise above strife.

Search for the depths in each person's soul
& marvel at how they heal & become whole.

Tim:	This is merely a fragment of your original ideas . . . without a deeper knowledge of the context, the meaning seems unclear.
Bob:	That specific context has long since passed. This moment now is your only important task. You have been more diplomatic than me in distilling a few ideas.
Tim:	I can't decipher some of the things you write. . .
Bob:	(with a cryptic smile) For sure, but think of art as an ongoing exploration, and exploration has no end...