the difficult task of comprehending other people's poetry

Whenever somebody asks me to read a piece of poetry they wrote, I instantly panic inside. Even though it is exceedingly difficult to understand poetry, when the author is beseechingly by your side to see you figure it out, it is completely nightmarish. I feel like I'll be judged for every wrong assessment or the symbolism that I mostly fail to understand. Some people have a knack for it, I confess I don't. And it hurts me more to see the author flinch when I get it wrong, hoping against the vain hope that I will eventually see their point. So now I ask for more time, and accost seemingly literary people with a penchant for riddles/puzzles/conundrums to help me out.