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by RD Armstrong Long Beach, CA |
Poetry, at least at this level of the small to tiny press, has always suffered from the mystique of being the product of amateurs. This has been slowly changing, in part because many respected universities and colleges now offer a degree in creative writing and have, effectively created "mills" which produce poets who go on to teach their peers how to write/teach poetry. Prior to becoming the darling of Academia, poetry was wrested from the ivory tower by uncultured slobs such as Charles Bukowski, who preached death to the icons (and ironically became an icon after his death). With the advent of the SLAM, poetry became ART and a competitive sport / performance. This has been both good and bad for poetry; good in that it has brought poetry to a whole new audience and conversely, bad, because it has brought poetry into the marketplace as a commodity, as something that one can "get rich doing" which is really presumptuous when you think about it. Yet, in the aftermath of the 9-11 disaster we find that poetry as an expression of the hearts and minds of the people has undergone a change in the eyes of the power brokers and spin doctors. Poetry is no longer a stranger in a strange land. Suddenly, poetry is something that school children are encouraged to write, to help them express these awkward feelings that we all must suffer through in these strange times. Poetry has become a tool of empowerment, employed by savvy politicians and MTV execs whenever possible. Again this is good and bad. Good for reasons of exposure, bad for reasons of co-option. I strongly believe that poets have a responsibility to write the wrongs. No, that's not a typo. Like music, Poetry has the potential to reach across a broad spectrum of society. But it cannot do this if the poets do not try to be "all that they can be" - and by this I mean, the quality of work sent out. Are you communicating? Or are you doing it just to see your name in the paper? These days, I think we need more content and less celebrity, more insight into the greater picture and less "it's all about me". In short, we need to toughen up and start writing as if it really matters, because I think it does. |
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