It’s hard to go a day without the question, does poetry matter? crop up somewhere, and if you’re in the mood for a longread, David Lehman has written an excellent essay on anxiety about poetry, in an Internet age.
Is poetry dead, does it matter, is there too much of it, does anyone anywhere buy books of poetry? The discussion is fraught with anxiety, and perhaps that implies a love of poetry, and a longing for it, and a fear that we may be in danger of losing it if we do not take care to promote it, teach it well and help it reach the reader whose life depends on it.
