The Demise of Poetry

If there was any doubt about the decline of poetry's readership in the U.S., here are two stories to support the argument.

Last week, the Lehrer News Hour profiled Copper Canyon Press and other Seattle publishers on the state of poetry presses. No new revelations, but still an interesting look inside the world of print publishing. The story is titled "Seattle Poetry Publisher Finds Method to Adapt to Changing Cultural Times." You can read the transcript, watch streaming video, or download the podcast. They also have an extensive list of poets in their poetry series—nice to see poetry represented somewhere in the media today.

Also, poet Rigoberto Gonzalez wrote an article/blog post for the Poetry Foundation called "In Praise of Online Journals."

Don't get me wrong, while poetry seems to be flourishing online and in local communities, I can't help but wonder in a few years if we will even publish poetry books or journals in print anymore.

*Sigh*