The thing about poetry (and art in general, I mean), is not in what it is, but what it isn't. Context is the hole in the doughnut of poetry. Not sure what role pithiness serves.
Poetry is about patterns. It's about causes and effects, about symmetries and asymmetries. Ever spend the night awake wondering how to turn asymmetry into symmetry? Does the pattern "abbabaabbaababba" look familiar? It's about meta-levels and the incomprehensible next step.
It isn't about events, unless it's expressing a denial of this definition. Or I could be wrong. Or it's using an event as a sort of fractal brush, which is reasonably close to what my Lit teachers said - but that still means that it isn't about the event.
Lots of things are art. Well, everything is art, but art is personally more fun with a witting observer to appreciate it. Sometimes, the observer and artist are one and the same, an egotistical pursuit for aesthetic satisfaction.
Life as art is like that. Life is always art, even when you don't appreciate it. But it can be done; life can be lived with intent. It's like prescience in Dune. You stand at the intersection of all possible pasts and futures. Maybe you stand at only one of a number of intersections differentiated in some way; speaking as a solipsist, I prefer the former view.
Anyway. Your values, beliefs and opinions define the lines. The future changes when you change your actions. The past changes when you change your values. Those are your tools - now make something with them.