A few years ago I started writing some liturgical poetry. I'm pretty great at it, if I do say so myself. I've written at least dozens of liturgical poems for several Jewish holidays. They interweave acrostics with references to midrashim and rhyme schemes, they're really works of art.

Now some people are complaining about it. They say that no one actually understands them, and I don't use meter. Some are saying my rhymes are "cheating" because I use the same suffix for lots of words, but I always have the root word end in the same root, I'm just making it rhyme more! I've been accused of doing a disservice to the Jewish people by writing all these poems, because services take a long time now.

As far as I see it, the poetic tradition is really the highest form of worship. If some people don't understand it, they should learn more. That's their problem, not mine. I don't even mind if people use Yannai's poetry instead of mine, even though mine is better. But I can't stand this criticism from people who are both less learned and boors who cannot appreciate poetry.

But I keep getting these angry letters from Babylonia and Spain, and I have a nagging feeling that maybe they're right. Should I have used meter instead? Should I have made my references less obscure? Should I have constrained my brilliance to a few short lines, instead of sprawling poems? AITA?