POETRY

Here are a couple of letters to the editor which caught my eye in Time magazine July 16 issue which I read on the plane trip from Paris to Bangkok.

Taking Poetry's Pulse Thank you for your article about the shameful little secret of modern poetry [June 25-July 2].

A poem can be a delightful read or a painful exercise in frustration, as with much of the modern stuff. Today's poetry often seems to use obscurity for its own sake, to be so profound that the meaning, if there is one, is too erudite for those outside of academia. I confess that sometimes it just sounds to me like nonsense phrases pretending to mean something important.

Since I write free verse, I know it is possible to create that delightful moment of understanding without being obscure. Annabelle Reeve, Aberdeen, North Carolina, U.S.
Poetry is not in decline. it thrives outside academia, in popular song lyrics that millions of people, especially children, can recite by heart.

One need only listen to the lyrics of today's hip-hop, rap, jazz and rock-music artists to hear poetry as it has been practiced since ancient times. Contemporary music lyrics can be vulgar, vivid, challenging, eloquent, passionate, inspiring and more—all the things that written poetry used to be.

Many academics lament poetry's decline in readership. Who says poetry should be read? The presentation of poetry in written form has declined, not the art form itself. If you want to experience contemporary poetry in its most vibrant and living form, just plug in your iPod or check out Poetry Out Loud, the recitation contest for high school students.

Poetry is alive and well; you just have to listen for it.

Thomas A. Hauck, Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.

Thanks to Lev Grossman for pointing out that newspapers and magazines used to print poems on a regular basis. From my experience as a small-press publisher, I can guarantee there would be no shortage of submissions if this early-American practice were revived. (Kudos to Garrison Keillor for reading poems on NPR.) In this troubling yet promising new digital age, perhaps some of Ruth Lilly's philanthropy could be used to pay the poets a little royalty—like the one their songwriting cousins get—if they are granted publication in places like TIME.

John P. Travis, Portals Press, New Orleans

AND AN APPEALING SNIPPET FROM THE SAME ISSUE OF TIME MAGAZINE


For Unchained Melody, one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century and one inextricably linked to the growing pains of baby boomers everywhere, listeners can tip their hat to its lyricist, Hi Zaret. The tale of a forlorn lover was recorded by more than 300 artists, most famously the Righteous Brothers in the mid-60’s. Zaret was 99.

And then this review of Douglas Kennedy's latest, The Woman in the Fifth, which also goes on to ponder as to why Kennedy, a British-based American writer, is such a big seller in the UK and yet his books are not published in the US.

I have seen a number of UK reviews but this is the first I have read with a US slant.

All in all an interesting issue of Time magazine which I do not often read but, along with The Economist & Newsweek, find perfect for plane reading when I want a break from my book.