The Poets Know It

As a poet and host of a poetry reading series, I found William Waltz’s article “Does Poetry Matter?” [August] an outstanding insight into what is right and wrong with poetry today. Waltz does highlight the prominence and reach of Billy Collins who (like Mark Doty, Lucille Clifton, and others) understands both how to write excellent poetry and how to engage an audience that isn’t likely to read that poetry without some assurance it won’t bore, berate, or bite them. On the flip side, Waltz calls attention to those poets who are too impressed with their own ideas, satisfied with their own politics, or comfortable with their own crowd to notice that they are using bad poetry to preach a poor message to a smug choir. Thanks for driving home the point that there’s a difference between writing quality poetry and thinking you’re a poet. Writers who write things no one can read do nothing for anyone—least of all themselves.

David Vincenti
West Caldwell, NJ