Supply and Demand
What's the poetry good for?
Even the poets aren't sure.
A mug's game. Unlikable.
A superior amusement.
The blood jet. I think
none have ever died
for lack of what's in there.
One could sell lemonade
or baked goods from a card table
in front of the house more easily.
Or chances at a rigged three-card game
down on the avenue. Poetry
is a product unloved
by any but its makers.
A showing off for a small circle
of the like-minded in a small
ill-suited room at the back
of a bar or coffee house.
There are 1.45 million readers
of poetry in the US and
2.9 million poets. The odds
of an audience are bad. The odds
of royalties, absolutely awful.
The poets persist, taking terrible
day jobs, scrambling for grants,
accepting the abuse of tech savvy
but tin-eared editors for nothing
but the satisfaction of the demigods
who whisper phrases, un-vetted
by focus groups, whenever they like.
Even the poets aren't sure.
A mug's game. Unlikable.
A superior amusement.
The blood jet. I think
none have ever died
for lack of what's in there.
One could sell lemonade
or baked goods from a card table
in front of the house more easily.
Or chances at a rigged three-card game
down on the avenue. Poetry
is a product unloved
by any but its makers.
A showing off for a small circle
of the like-minded in a small
ill-suited room at the back
of a bar or coffee house.
There are 1.45 million readers
of poetry in the US and
2.9 million poets. The odds
of an audience are bad. The odds
of royalties, absolutely awful.
The poets persist, taking terrible
day jobs, scrambling for grants,
accepting the abuse of tech savvy
but tin-eared editors for nothing
but the satisfaction of the demigods
who whisper phrases, un-vetted
by focus groups, whenever they like.
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Author's Note
Poets of the world unite! Otherwise, you'll have no audience to speak of.
Note: The numbers quoted are purely imaginary. I'm sure they are actually much smaller but no less disproportionate.
Other stories by Gary Hardaway
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Sadly, you speak the truth.*
Amen! *
I've heard the watershed line at which participants in an art form exceed consumers as the Morris Dance Tipping Point. *
My impression of the most memorable poets are those who live unusual lives with often tragic ends. Performance art with a subscript. *
A Marianne Moore moment? Speaking truth. *
"Poetry
is a product unloved
by any but its makers. "
*
Billy Collins quoting Philip Levine - the poetry workshop is the 2nd largest growth industry in the US. Good poem, Gary.
Sam, I think MFA programs are also a growth industry. Thanks, and Happy Christmas to you.
Thanks, Paul. Enjoy the Holidays.
Marianne occupies a special niche in the holy house of poets, John.
Really good to have you here again.
Matt, poets have crafted the tragic artist thing. Oh--- then there are the genuinely tragic ones- Plath, Thomas, Berryman, Sexton, etc.
Thank you, Con. It's always a gift to have your work here.
Thanks, Jerry. Some very interesting work from you recently. looking forward to more in 2015.
Happy Boxing Day, Amanda, and a brilliant 2015!
Reminds me of anecdotes I've heard about Chaucer--how he wrote mostly for an in-group of friend-writers who also worked in the court.
Chaucer, and your poem here, always reminds me that I have to write for the enjoyment first and foremost.
*
Thank you, Steven.
And why do we still keep writing it? To make something eternally beautiful? Who knows. Great poem. "*"
Thank you, Kyle.
It's a good thing we don't do it for money or fame or to get laid.*
Indeed. All compensation is imaginary. Thanks, Gary
*, Gary. Yet another one of your consistently fine poems summing up the status of poetry and the consequential status of poets. I agree with the poem: William Carlos Williams overstated his case.
Thanks, David.
"A mug's game."
You got it.