There's been talk that poetry is dying. Some critics allege that poetry has become little more than an incestuous, academic subculture isolated from the intellectual mainstream, rarely mentioned in general-interest publications or honestly criticized in its own cliquish journals. In other words, modern poets are off somewhere in a classroom with the shades pulled, teaching would-be poets how to train other would-be poets to write what no one wants to read.

Speaking as both a writer and reader--I disagree. Yet, something is rotten in the house of poetry, affecting its public, its publishers, and its practitioners.

While poetry may never claim an audience to rival John Grisham, somehow we have estranged many of its traditional supporters. It's hardly surprising that the small press prefers to review poetry it recommends. Do we need to tell non-buyers what else not to buy?

Ah, had we but world enough and time...that's part of the problem.

Poetry suffers mightily in the time crunch, because for most of us, reading it simply isn't convenient. Sure, there's plenty of poetry out there. Today anyone with a PC and a printer can be a desktop publisher. Anyone with access to a server can reach more readers in a heartbeat than all the daffodils Wordsworth saw on that famous hillside.

If readers look. But while newspapers like the Springfield Daily Republican once featured the work of Emily Dickinson, today's folks must go out of their way to find a poem. And how many of us can deal with all the things already in our way?

On the editorial side, reluctance to print poetry may arise not from any lack of original material but from a lack of faith in it. Witness recent Hollywood films, with wave after wave of sequels and clones. Or each week's Made-For-TV movie "based on a true story" that guarantees more of the safe and familiar. Have we really become too mindlessly dull to deal with anything new and unknown? To be startled by poetry--that might do us good.

Granted, there's no shortage of drivel out there. Here's where poets themselves stand convicted. Poetry has lost its impact and audience, in part, by abandoning the very elements that make it unique. Poets need not all revert to iambic pentameter, but we'd do well to remember Coleridge's simple definition: "poetry=the best words in their best order." Not just any ol' language slapped down any which way.

Modern readers are understandably confused to confront a block of text with wide margins that is called a poem but doesn't sound, feel, or act like one. Effective free verse still derives vitality from compression, insightful metaphor, and the musical use of sound and sense, all combining to lodge a line in the brain. Too often, the pale stanzas that pass for contemporary poetry are no more than broken prose--and bland prose at that.

To survive, poetry mustn't be afraid to be poetry, to wear all the bright scarves in its language closet. Not flash, but artistry. Not glitter, but twenty-four carat value.

And to be of value, it must be comprehensible. Delving into the unfolding depths of a good poem can be an exciting treasure hunt, but who wants to wallow in the mire of an obscure exercise that's little more than a showcase for the poet's anguish or erudition?

Compounding the problem, too often during a reader's early academic exposure to poetry, it is branded with the damning curse: something that's good for you. Mental prunes. Or worse yet, it's considered merely a dried-up carcass to be dissected like a junior high frog.

The news is not all grim. In this era of diminishing economic support for the arts, poetry is fortunate that its needs are simple. No stage, no auditorium, no gallery--just innovative writers, interested readers, and a little paper--or screen--in between. If we agree that poetry plays a special role in both preserving the craft of fine wordsmanship and helping us to understand the human condition, how can we put poetry back in the intellectual Big Leagues where it belongs?

• Instead of being part of the problem, poets in academe should be part of the cure. Public readings and classroom discussions by visiting poets or online audio can make the text literally come alive. Many of the folks who hear these writers may never compose anything more lyrical than an interoffice memo, but their heightened appreciation may make them future poetry readers.
• Why wait till college? Fascination with poetry should develop in a seamless progression from Dr. Seuss to Shakespeare to contemporary works. Remember when language was fun? It still is. Another good reason to read to our kids.
• We writers can invigorate poetry from its oral-tradition-roots up by performing it with drama and spirit that target the ear's pleasure as well as the mind's. Some poets do little to help their own cause with the meaningless sing-song of their readings.
• If you want poetry back in your favorite magazines, write to editors and let them know. Politicians assume that each letter received represents one thousand silent constituents. Make yourself heard.
• Support e-zines and websites that include poetry. Give them the "eyeballs" they need to satisfy their sponsors, whether those backers be commercial businesses running ads on their pages or generous institutions footing the bills. Use those handy "Contact Us" links to give positive feedback. At the very least, you'll make some blurry-eyed editors feel appreciated for their hours spent slaving over keyboards.
• Encourage others to expand their horizons by linking your personal website to poetry pages that you enjoy, whether literary, light, speculative, or outrageous. Share your favorites with friends, especially techno-savvy young people who may think only tunes come off the 'Net.
• You there, on the other side of this page. Don't let the rich have all the fun. You, too, can be a patron of the arts. When you encounter a poet whose work you enjoy, go ahead, buy a book. The ugly truth: it's a supply-and-demand world out there. Demand.

Is poetic genrecide truly around the corner? I rather doubt that, too. Early in the twentieth century, Conrad Aiken compared expecting response to a new book of poetry to dropping a feather in the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo. I suspect that even as "To be or not to be" was wafting through the Globe, some cranky scholar was bemoaning the sorry state of the Elizabethan theater.

Language is one of the features that separates us from the animals, as does (according to Mark Twain) the ability--or need--to blush. Poetry allows us to cultivate our precious communication ability, all the while guiding us to understand the more subtle aspects of our humanity.

To lose poetry, now that should make us blush.

Links to Poetry Online

The Poetry Archives
http://www.emule.com/poetry/
This free archive of classic poetry offers an alphabetized anthology ranging from Matthew Arnold to William Butler Yeats. Though the focus is on the 16th-20th centuries, you can also find the Roman biggies Ovid and Virgil or the 8th century Chinese poet Li Po’s vindication of wine. The archive is searchable by title or first line, in case you can’t remember who began “Had we but world enough, and time . . .” [Hint: It was Andrew Marvell, in “To His Coy Mistress."]

Poetry Daily
http://www.poems.com/
Operating on the assumption that “the urge to ‘tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it’ lessens when poetry arises freshly each day” [from “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins], this site offers a new poem each day, enhanced with biographical information on the poet and a link to online ordering of the poet’s work.

Poetry 180
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/
A daily helping of poetry is available especially seasoned for kids from this site featuring poems for reading in American high schools, as selected by Billy Collins, current U.S. Poet Laureate. As Collins explains, “A 180-degree turn implies a turning back--in this case, to poetry.” Includes helpful instructions for reading aloud.

The Poetry and Literature Center of the Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/
Want to learn more about Billy Collins or poet laureates of the past? Find it here, plus a schedule of LOC-sponsored events and links to cybercasts of poetry readings and an archive of recordings of more than 2,000 poets reading their own work.

The ESserver Poetry Collection
http://eserver.org/poetry/
Looking for the complete text of “Paul Revere’s Ride,” Pope’s epic “The Rape of the Lock,” or the aforementioned Virgil in Latin? This site, founded in 1990 as the English [not Electronic] Server, is the place, with its broad collection of works in the public domain.

Online Journal and Multimedia Companion to Anthology of Modern American Poetry
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/
Seeking to be “a living, breathing conversation between hundreds of poets, scholars, and readers,” this site offers a wealth of biographical information and critical essays on the work of 161 poets as well as links to poetry publishers.

Giggle Poetry
http://www.gigglepoetry.com
Capture the kids’ interest with a site just for them, though adults can laugh along too at this collection of inspired silliness. Also includes writing contests for kids; simple instructions for writing specific types of poetry, like acrostics, haiku, or “what bugs me” poems; and a section of tips for poetry teachers.

For two decades, Barbara J. Petoskey has published poetry, articles, humor, interviews, and reviews in publications such as Confrontation, Bostonia, Spring Hill Review, Northern Centinel, AWP Chronicle, and Writer's Digest, and more recently on websites such as Inscriptions, Keystrokes, and Pantarbe.com. She is also a contributing editor for ByLine.