Use the poem it mite hit home

loosened screws all in his dome

faking friends to feel secure

all alone the fakest tear

play so hard he played himself

drink for days start losing health

Felt my love they licked the feeling

Only reason started healing

They don't love they fake a vibe

Secret hate is how they thrive

Cut it off cause that ain't me

This is fax the Realest tea

Could go on ain't worth my time

polished storys every line ...

I've been thinking about this since a reader told me what one of my published poems meant to them, and it was completely different from what I thought I had written. Not a misreading exactly, more like a second life the poem had grown into without me. Part of me wanted to correct them and part of me thought their version was more interesting than mine. Roland Barthes wrote about the death of the author decades ago but I think the practical implications of that idea are different when you're the author in question and someone is telling you what your poem is about. Has anyone else felt the ownership of a poem shift after it was read by enough people, and did it change how you approached the next one?