I think your story was great. There are two things that I think would have made you attract the right people.

First is the headline. I am not a poetry person and no offense but when I read your title, I rolled my eyes a little. I have seen similar stories telling me I need to connect with poetry and I just don't.

I think a title Mary suggested below would be really good. As it makes me curious about your take instead of feeling like you will berate me about poetry!

The second thing is headings. Your story has no headings, which I am sure is common in poetry. But if I open a story on medium without headings I click off of it. Especially since your title is meant to bring in the non-poetry reader, I think having headings that they are more accustom to might have kept people longer, but I guess not given you more views!