Oh, you are definitely not alone on this one. There are many poets that stun me and take away my breath. It's like finding a separate place in this world made by words and once you've found it, it's impossible to remain untouched. I know exactly how you feel.

The co-authoring topic sounds great. I worked with another author on a nonfiction book, which was a lot of fun. Once heard half of a writing partnership talk, and she said the best thing about it was that, really NOBODY ELSE wants to hear you talk about the book all day, but the writing partner totally does. :)

I don't do much poetry, but I did in college, and my most "sucessful" piece came as sort of a collaboration. My roommate challenged me to write a 'happy poem' (I seemed to write a lot of dark stuff, surprise surprise). He walked out but came back 30 seconds late and added "and you're not allowed to use the word 'love". This challenge concept had treated me well over the years. I've proffered it to several writing friends. Sometimes it's specific like what my roommate did, and sometimes it's very loose. Thought the results have been greatly varies, in each case it has been time well spent.