I have found that there was one common thread--among many--that linked not only poets, but writer and most other artist. It is that there is almost always a non-artistic but mystical connection between the writer/poet and the commonan as merely a friend from the beginning. an ealry example would be the relationship between Shams and Rumi. had it not been for the arrival of Shams(the light) there may not have been the Rumi we know today. Another, would be Kerouac and Cassidy, tho Cassidy would also inspire several others, he was most important to Kerouac. Hunter Thompson had his lawyer, Oscar Zeta-Acosta, and artist Steadman. Rimbaud and Verlaine. The list goes on-and-on. I have pondered the connections for many years and have found only one exception, Henry Charles Bukowski and it is utterly palpable in his writing. One could say, his was the booze and the whores and the rats on the floors, that could be true but is not relavent. I like to think of it on cosmic levels and think that these individuals were the key to that writers destiny. That, these men, tho somewhat in the shadow of obscurity were just as illuminating as the men who made it; the greats.