Walt Whitman said that a nation, to have great poets, must have great audiences too. His words still ring true. As I write, the White House is doing all it can to diminish the arts including creative writing. The war on “woke” has lead to banishing dictionaries in elementary schools, and the erasure of history—especially Black history. The NEA has essentially been destroyed. As a poet who grew up in late 1960s, I remember the strong connections between America’s poets and anti-war protests. Robert Bly donated his National Book Award prize money to the draft resistance movement. In those days there were large crowds for poetry readings, especially on university campuses. 

 

It’s hard to ascertain how many people are reading poetry now. One hears frequently that campus audiences are small. While this shouldn’t be the only metric it is telling. I remember overflow crowds for Anne Sexton, Adrienne Rich, James Wright, Denise Levertov, and Bly. Recently I invited a famous poet to Syracuse University and 12 people showed up. It’s hard to escape the feeling that the reading of poetry is in decline. Last year I attended the famous Dodge Poetry Festival, and there were a lot of empty seats.

 

America has great poets. In a time of oppression we need to find new ways to share the news.

 

Stephen Kuusisto

Nine Mile Magazine