Having insights about the poetry you read turns out to be harder than expected. In other words, having insights that can actually be articulated intelligently. For example, there are poets I've read for a while that I haven't been able to be that articulate about. I don't mean having opinions about it, that's the easy part...

For example, I am a great reader of the poetry of Barbara Guest, but I wouldn't know how to articulate any meaningful insight. Of course, I'm good at faking it with my lit crit skills.

You read through the essays written by poets, and discover they have no insights that they are able to put into language. At least, nothing that counts for me. This is where it gets tricky. You see writers dumbly dancing around the subject; you know they know they are expected to have something to say, so when they don't, there are always a few clichés they can fall back on.

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My dreams are of startling emotional clarity. For example, a dream in which my friends abandon me... The specific details are murky, but the import of the dream was very clear when I awoke.