The Death of Poetry?

This week's class assignment was to post a 400-600 referential article on Masslive that had to do with our beat. I chose an article from Newsweek about the supposed decline of poetry readership and popularity, and what it means for the verse-inclined community at large.

I'm actually really glad I stumbled across this article for the assignment, because it's something that's been in the back of my mind for awhile. Most of the writing I find myself doing for pleasure consists of poetry...and though it isn't very noteworthy I think it's something I'll continue to do for the rest of my life. If I could think of something I love that I want to make a career out of, it would be writing poetry and short-fiction. You can imagine that isn't the most lucrative of passions but I suppose that has never mattered very much to me. Living here in Amherst is kind of like living in a literary-oriented bubble. It seems like every corner you turn, there is something going on having to do with literature and verse. The very air we breathe in this part of New England seems saturated in poetry. I've never experienced that anywhere else, not even in my hometown of Nantucket, where the natural beauty is as breathtaking to me as the hills of Tuscany were during my visit there, four years ago. I think that's because the people here are so unique. Everyone is literate, everyone is searching for knowledge, it seems everyone has their own individual take on the world. That is what poetry conveys. I don't know, I'm kind of just rambling but the Newsweek article really got to me. Check it out on Masslive once it's posted. Hopefully I'll be able to gather my thoughts a little better there.

Cheers.