The inaugural poem was offered by a woman whose love of language
was mitigated by her use of it. Unlike a few others, I don't
mind the tradition of exalting poets and artists in
political settings. I didn't mind Billy Collins as poet laureate.
I don't think all modern poetry is awful. I just don't think the
people that do the decision-making in this area are very good at
making these decisions.
For one thing, there's more of a divide between poets and people
who don't know poetry. The average person's exposure to it
involves a few lines of Whitman, something from Frost, discussing
that Emily Dickinson was weird, and then a little while on
Shakespeare's sonnets. Next comes "modern poetry," where you read
a few things from 10 years ago, and the teacher gives you a
writing assignment to do "your own poem." Most people will do an
ABAB rhyme structure, and the goth kids in the back of the class
will talk about "piercing souls that are dark and hollow," but
for the most part, the lesson imparted is: "Poetry has no
meaning, it can be anything, and as such, you can go on with your
life." If the teacher is so inspired, and really wants to make
sure you remember poetry, you'll watch a video called Dead
Poets Society, and stop your learning of poetry at the
romantics. You'll then remember Whitman as that crazy guy who
inspired kids to stand on their desks as Robin Williams left the
classroom.
The poets, on the other hand, get wacky. Some of them don't do
the reading, so they write cliches without realizing it. Others
offer poetry that's simply too inward. In other words, you have
common people with little knowledge of poetry, and poets who have
little knowledge of people.
In a moment of self-awareness, Billy Collins offers a fantastic
poem on what it's like to workshop with others... first stanza
excerpted here, but the rest available at this link.
Workshop
by Billy Collins
I might as well begin by saying how much I like the
title.
It gets me right away because I'm in a workshop now
so immediately the poem has my attention,
like the Ancient Mariner grabbing me by the sleeve.
...
Warning: This pretty much only falls under the category of
"clever poetry," another brand of poetry that, while nice, is
hardly the guiding light of higher aesthetics. See also the
hilarious Ogden Nash.
