The Usefulness of Poetry

In this recent Atlantic article, Noah Berlatsky writes about the controversial statement, “Poetry is useless.” Despite what some poets believe, Noah says that the usefulness of a poem depends on what it says, not what it is.

In other words, if you think all poetry is useless, you aren’t looking hard enough.

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Kelly Opdycke is a Rumpus intern and an optimist with realist tendencies. She spent her summer at 826LA, where she helped English-Language Learners master homophones in the Amazon, take notes while exploring the Endeavour space shuttle, and write resumes that explain their exceptional hide-and-seek skills. Before this, she received her master’s degree from CSULA. She will be applying to doctoral programs this fall.

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The Rumpus publishes original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds. Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers our readers may already know and love. We want to bring new perspectives into the conversation that will make us all look deeper.

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