Indifference to Poetry
Poetry did not enjoy, as did the visual arts, a late-19th century democratisation. The overlap between the millions of yearly visitors to the Museum of Modern Art and the handful of poetry readers is tellingly slim. Our culture has taught us how to look at a Picasso—or at least not to panic in front of one. At least when “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” was first exhibited, the reactions were violent. Modern poetry, no more or less challenging than a modern painting, is rarely even actively disliked. Indifference is the common attitude, and avoidance the standard strategy.
Rachel Abramowitz,The Oxonian Review of David Orr’s “Beautiful & Pointless”
