So: a poetics I could get behind (hey there) would analyze what goes on in a poem to give that feeling of doing something. Understanding the sufficient conditions -- the quality of the language -- as opposed to the necessary conditions -- the force of the expression.

I knew this would happen -- look at art rationally and I start to sound like a ration booklet: Is this poem really necessary etc. The answer is yes in almost all cases. Poems don't consume petroleum, they convert CO2 to O2.