Poetry's Chairman

	Disappearing Ink: Poetry at the End of Print Culture [Click the title to buy this book] by Dana Gioia Graywolf Press 304 pages, $16.00

hirteen years ago Dana Gioia wrote in The Atlantic Monthly that poetry had ceased to be a part of the public conversation. All the hopeful signs—the popularity of graduate creative-writing programs, the proliferation of small literary magazines, the public and private funding available for poets—were only evidence, Gioia said, that poetry had turned in on itself. Written by a select, academic group, it was being read mainly by that same group and supported by the philanthropy of cultural institutions. Never had poetry meant so little to ordinary people, and never had there been so much of it. In "Can Poetry Matter?" (May 1991) Gioia wrote,

Like subsidized farming that grows food no one wants, a poetry industry has been created to serve the interests of the producers and not the consumers. And in the process the integrity of the art has been betrayed. Of course, no poet is allowed to admit this in public. The cultural credibility of the professional poetry establishment depends on maintaining a polite hypocrisy.

NAME
ADDRESS
CITY
STATE		ZIP
Save 59% off the newsstand price

If you are already a subscriber, but have not yet registered for access to the Web site, click here to do so. Canadian Subscribers: Click Here. International Subscribers: Click Here.