On Writing Poetry

I have been going through the papers that have accumulated in my house and generally organizing and downsizing my crap. I hate doing this, but it is a necessary part of life, one that I would like to do better. A couple days ago, while going through my old journals and papers, I came across a stack of poetry I wrote between 2000 and 2003. I was struck by how much quality material I found in these stacks. The poetry was so raw, unpretentious, gritty, full of pain and hope and blood. This poetry was written largely during my time as a homeless teenager. I have since then polished my style quite a bit, finding other things to write about besides cold, hunger, and watching my friends become addicted to hard drugs. I had dismissed the poetry written during that time as simply the therapeutic release of a confused 18 year old girl. Now, I think that, perhaps, this work needs to be included along with my more recent writings, as I seek a publisher for my poetry. I am thinking that perhaps self-publishing my poetry would be the best decision. Poetry isn't as marketable as fiction, and, unless you are an established author, getting a publishing house to take a risk on your poetry is very difficult. Having a published book of poetry, with an ISBN number and a listing on Amazon.com has been a lifelong dream of mine. Perhaps, soon, I will realize that dream.