When Poetry Got Difficult

“One has to wonder if poetry has any place in the 21st century, when music videos and satellite television offer daunting competition for poems, which demand a good deal of attention and considerable analytic skills, as well as some knowledge of the traditions of poetry. In the 20th century, something went amiss. Poetry became ‘difficult.’ That is, poets began to reflect the complexities of modern culture, its fierce disjunctions.”