any good? you ask me.

You ask whether your verses are any good. You ask me. 
You have asked others before this. You send them to magazines. 
You compare them with other poems, and you are upset
 when certain editors reject your work. Now
 (since you have said you want my advice) I beg you to stop
 doing that sort of thing. You are looking outside,
 and that is what you should most avoid right now. No one can advise
 or help you – no one. There is only one thing you should do. 

Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; 
see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart;
 confess to yourself whether you would have to die 
if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself
 in the most silent hour of your night: must I write?

 Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent,
 if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,”
 then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life,
 even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, 
must become a sign and witness to this impulse.

 ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

from  Letters to a Young Poet, Letter One

art: self-portrait Edvard Munch