I think it is often true that people approach poetry with rigid expectations—with a prejudice that may be analogous to the bigotry with which people often approach others who are not from their culture. Black poets do not examine the “Black experience” exclusively any more than White poets write exclusively about the White Experience, but so often African American poets find themselves most in demand during Black History Month, as if that is the only time their visions are relevant. On the other side of that equation, people of color will sometimes assume that a white poet (a white poem) has little or nothing relevant to say to them.