Thank you all for your helpful definitions and opinions, though I'm not sure I agree with all your views: I would give, for example, a much greater priority to a writer's duty to communicate a message in the most effective way, rather than to any requirement to challenge or even to entertain. I also consider that some images are in themselves vivid and their potency [IMHO] is not diminished by the fact they are familiar and well-used. The rose / thorns image, for example, is used [in WORD WEAVER] to contrast the inherent gentility of words [the rose] with the dangers of action [thorns] - not an ordinary use of the comparison in any way. It may be that poets are inordinately analytical - and may focus on the technical elements of a poem to the detriment of the prime purpose which is to communicate some actual message or even a specific mood or emotion. Perhaps too many years of teaching 'Creative Writing' in Evening [Adult Education]has blunted my enthusiasm for such sport - heaven knows I spent enough time taking poems apart then. No ... I'll continue to judge poems by how well they 'tell their mind' and when writing my own little pieces will use whatever means seems most effective [even so-called cliches]. However, I really enjoyed ALL the responses and they certainly made me think - sufficient reward in itself. Thanks Meic WORD WEAVER Respect your craft, word-weaver, fashion your songs with care: since this may be the only way to tell your mind or let your lost and helpless tenderness find its way. So set your words' little feet upon the page so they may scamper, prance or pirouette or then perform some slow and solemn ceremonial across the page. Your word's embrace may not be so direct, so real and yet in truth may serve a different safer need. So polish your skills, weaver of words, since the gifts you bring may yet surpass the beauty of the rose and lack the sting