July 6th, 2009
The Rockwell County Herald Banner reports that in a reading and lecture given in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins voiced his opinion on the state of American poetry. “One of the reasons people don’t read as much poetry anymore is the fault of the poets,” said Collins. “It’s not the public’s fault. There’s an awful lot of bad poetry out there. I’d say about 87 percent of the poetry in America isn’t worth reading. Poetry should be transparent. Transparent poems tend to teach themselves.”
The Editors of Smartish Pace disagree and think that 91% of American poetry isn’t worth reading.
Smartish Pace