I've been an avid poetry reader for nearly a decade now, I went from not understanding why poetry wasn't a big part of people's lives to not caring one bit and I think this was a healthy evolution.
Most poetry is bad. I have found in my life that the ratio is around 1/20. For every 20 poems one will be something you feel totally good. Probably a few more will have parts of the poem you admire, but lose you elsewhere.
Why are most poems bad? My personal guess is that most people use poems to convey sentiments that could best be done via another form (probably an essay or Tweet). Rupi Kaur is a fine example-- her poems have a character of just wanting to say something direct, but she ends up draping it in poetic staccato. I don't want to dismiss her too much, she's clearly a more successful poet than I am or will ever be, but in my opinion her work sort of misses the central premise of the form. Often times when I read a bad poem, I feel like the author really wanted to write an essay.
Poetry should be used to convey something that really can't be conveyed by other means. You're intending to tap into "something" that other art quite can't. When you find that 1 in 20 poem, it's because it has a sense of revelation, newness, spontaneity. It tends to trigger that sense of seeing something new. I often say "I never thought to organize words that way". John Ashberry's poems have a habit of doing that, and I think that's why he gets the praise he does. Though give me Adrienne Rich any day.
Ultimately though, as I said above, I don't care if people like poetry anymore. Not every artistic pursuit needs to make millions or have millions of fans (which, poetry does, but they're relatively quiet I guess). I also appreciate that since most poets you read are just people who pursued lives of literature, they're a bit more accessible and thus a bit more free to scrutinize. They're people like you and me, writing for each other and not with world dominating aims. Their work doesn't have "Weight". You can engage frankly with their poems, and how they do them well and how they come up short. The poems become friends.
My favorite poet of all time is Michigan based poet Carol Atkins. I believe all her books were self published? I think she is about at the ratio I describe, most of her work is just ok, but when she's sublime, she's truly sublime. It feels as if she wrote art just for me. I've carried her big hitter poems with me throughout life.
And that's the best thing about poetry versus other art-- it's carryable. You get to take it with you everywhere you go, and use it as you please. I guess you can open up your phone and google a painting, or replicate a sculpture, or hum a tune, but a poem is a piece of art you carry completely with you in its full form, as long as you remember it. You're meant to ruminate about two roads diverging in a wood, at the exact moment you realize you're in a diverging road situation. A poem is a life jacket in a way, meant to buoy you just when you need it. I'm not quite sure what other art can offer that combination of simplicity, profundity and carryability.
Finally, let me end with this: read Sharon Olds.
Most poetry is bad. I have found in my life that the ratio is around 1/20. For every 20 poems one will be something you feel totally good. Probably a few more will have parts of the poem you admire, but lose you elsewhere.
Why are most poems bad? My personal guess is that most people use poems to convey sentiments that could best be done via another form (probably an essay or Tweet). Rupi Kaur is a fine example-- her poems have a character of just wanting to say something direct, but she ends up draping it in poetic staccato. I don't want to dismiss her too much, she's clearly a more successful poet than I am or will ever be, but in my opinion her work sort of misses the central premise of the form. Often times when I read a bad poem, I feel like the author really wanted to write an essay.
Poetry should be used to convey something that really can't be conveyed by other means. You're intending to tap into "something" that other art quite can't. When you find that 1 in 20 poem, it's because it has a sense of revelation, newness, spontaneity. It tends to trigger that sense of seeing something new. I often say "I never thought to organize words that way". John Ashberry's poems have a habit of doing that, and I think that's why he gets the praise he does. Though give me Adrienne Rich any day.
Ultimately though, as I said above, I don't care if people like poetry anymore. Not every artistic pursuit needs to make millions or have millions of fans (which, poetry does, but they're relatively quiet I guess). I also appreciate that since most poets you read are just people who pursued lives of literature, they're a bit more accessible and thus a bit more free to scrutinize. They're people like you and me, writing for each other and not with world dominating aims. Their work doesn't have "Weight". You can engage frankly with their poems, and how they do them well and how they come up short. The poems become friends.
My favorite poet of all time is Michigan based poet Carol Atkins. I believe all her books were self published? I think she is about at the ratio I describe, most of her work is just ok, but when she's sublime, she's truly sublime. It feels as if she wrote art just for me. I've carried her big hitter poems with me throughout life.
And that's the best thing about poetry versus other art-- it's carryable. You get to take it with you everywhere you go, and use it as you please. I guess you can open up your phone and google a painting, or replicate a sculpture, or hum a tune, but a poem is a piece of art you carry completely with you in its full form, as long as you remember it. You're meant to ruminate about two roads diverging in a wood, at the exact moment you realize you're in a diverging road situation. A poem is a life jacket in a way, meant to buoy you just when you need it. I'm not quite sure what other art can offer that combination of simplicity, profundity and carryability.
Finally, let me end with this: read Sharon Olds.