| October 6, 2003 Back in August, Rake Magazine published an article by William Waltz which asked again that critical question Does Poetry Matter?. Since Dana Gioia asked his similar question, this question has been a source of passionate debate among poets. But what they're missing is that this is exactly the problem. Gioia and Waltz both make a simple request in their essays: Tell me who you're writing FOR. Poetry, for these writers, seems to have been absorbed into a subculture, with poets writing primarily for themselves, each other, and their MFA programs. The inevitable result of such inbreeding, they say, is that poetry has become weak, insular, inaccessible, and proudly anti-mainstream. They're right, of course. The question that poets themselves are failing to ask in this debate is: Is this a GOOD thing? Many I know defend their art, saying they write for art's sake and those who don't get it just aren't going to get it. I can't buy into this. I think the artist's obligation is to present material WITH THE INTENTION of delivering a truth to the audience. Even if that audience is one person and you've no idea who that person is, you write with the hope that someone will read you. To think otherwise is foolish. Bottom line is: someone's got to buy those books. Who do you want that someone to be? I've also heard people say they avoid reading other poets' work so that they may create with more originality. Well, forsaking the obvious flaw in this argument (How can you know what's original if you don't know what came before?), this clearly creates more poets and fewer readers for poets. I find it particularly irritating that poets who won't read poetry complain about the small audiences at their readings. Ugh. Of course, I say this with the knowledge that I'm a "mainstream" poet, meaning I write apolitical material that's largely profanity-free and can be shared without fear with most people's mothers. I write about my children, and about my commute to work, and my father's death, and baseball, and how hard it is to get a decent sandwich sometimes. Of course, this means that most poets aren't interested in reading what I write - these are not accepted elements of the subculture. But I know what I'm trying to say, and who I'm trying to reach, and that poetry is the way to do it. David Vincenti Advisor, Center for the Performing Arts at DeBaun Auditorium www.debaun.org; www.davidvincenti.com
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