Thanks to James at the venerable ursprache for posting this:
Like a good tailor who fashions a suit that fits one man (or even two) resplendently; and an overcoat that might suit two or three—thus for me might my poems be made “to fit”, in one case (or perhaps in two or three). This comparison is somewhat deprecatory (only in a superficial sense); but it is, I think, accurate and reassuring. If my poems do not fit in a general sense, then they fit in a particular sense. This is no small matter. Their truth is, in this fashion, guaranteed.
C.P. Cavafy, Selected Prose Works (U. of Michigan Press, 2010), translated by Peter Jeffreys
This is not just beautifully stated but true in same sense that Cavafy means “truth” in that last sentence. This is a testament, in other words, to the reality of writing poems. We are told in literature classes that poems aim for the “universal” and that this “universality” is what makes great poems great. In other words, the more people the tailor’s suit fits, the better the suit. The poetic question, though—and here my view diverges even from Cavafy’s—is not whether the suit fits but whether one is changed by wearing the suit. That is a different order of truth, and there is no way for poets to guarantee it for anyone, even themselves.
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
sounds like Henry Miller (?)
Leave it to that grand dandy of Alexandria to teach us how to dress our poems! Your reference to poets aiming for the "universal" reminded me of something some other poet/tailor(I forget who) said: "Pay attention to the particular and the universal will take care of itself."