It takes intelligence to realize that anything workwhile involves a lot of effort, desire, perseverence. Mechanics and poets are people who apply their intelligence toward producing palpable evidence of their intelligence. Maybe poets care more about who acknowledges their results, although I’m not sure.

For me, I know I’m sensitive. Thin boundaries, some people call it. At times I’m emotionally raw, but I didn’t check that one on the day I took the poll. Guess I was on top of my game that day!

I was suprised by how many are introverted. Is that a measure of the internet community or is it poetics? I was also suprised by how many chose “gifted”. Is that a balance to how few said elitist? There were more votes (one!) for gifted than hard-working. (Though both ranked pretty high.)

Since we could vote for as many as we liked, it’s conceivable that some voted for both. I like that idea.

(Full disclosure: I’m extoverted & hardworking, not gifted. Oh, and yes, I do think I am intelligent. I think I would qualify that, if I could, as being a curious reader.)

i’m surprised more of us aren’t unpredictable. i think i am. at least, i can never precict my own behavior. although, my husband, again, says i am totally predicatable. i have always used the “artist” label to explain being late, forgetful, unpredictable, bad with money, etc… i know those are cliches, but they are me, and i am an artist…

i very much appreciate your “almost” being in the emotionally raw category and admitting that it’s true sometimes for you. where’s the rest of my brood? i know you’re out there!

I think I may have looked at this a little differently. I thought about causality rather than correlation, and for me, my intelligence (or lack thereof) and my elitism (or lack thereof) don’t cause/are not caused by my creativity. I think we frequently let some of these correlating attributes work themselves into the identity we claim for ourselves as poets/artists–which is in no way more or less correct, but I like focusing on the “essentials.”

Does that make any sense?

And Carolee, at other times in my life (like, two months ago), I probably would have checked overly sensitive/emotionally raw, because when I am emotionally raw, it definitely plays into my creative process. But it’s not a constant for me… so I went with sensitive instead.

My mom quit school at 16. I know she never thought of herself as intelligent but she reads one book after another and does the crossword puzzle in the paper every day. She braided rugs and sewed and refinished furniture and raised her four kids with so much integrity and instilled values in us so I, certainly, think of her as intelligent.

And here I am, a poet, from these two. I am my mom’s poem. That’s how she created. And my dad’s poetry was putting parts of cars together to make them hum.

So, I don’t know if I’ve answered the question, but it clarified things for me, anyway.

and then there’s “intelligence,” and i think of extra terrestrial intelligence (because i’m a strange sort of girl). in that case, i consider “intelligence” to mean a certain level of awareness and understanding that has nothing to do with literacy.

too bad our language weren’t more precise. or maybe it is and we’re just lazy in our usage.

what i think you’re asking is “does being intelligent imply a certain level of elitism?” i don’t know. in some cases, definitely, but not all.

but i like thinking about your mechanic because our poll asks us to describe ourselves, not guess how others define us or share how we label others … so the question is, would the mechanic call himself intelligent and find a connection between how his brain was wired and what skills he developed? that’s what we’re trying to figure out for ourselves. does creativity pre-dispose us to certain traits?

I guess that sounds like a really loaded question. But I really am curious about this.

O.K., off to attempt a poem about sacrifice.