The present is a gift

[Mark A Becker]

That interplay is on display just about any time you encounter words, spoken, written, or however the encounter occurs.  There's poetry all around us, ...

This is part of why I point to context, and very briefly explain that in terms of history.  Much of what we learn about an historical event often omits the broader context in which those events occurred.  News of the Lincoln assasination states the facts, yet Whitman's "O Captain, My Captain" enlarges the frame beyond the details of those facts. The context of the aftermath of the J.F.Kennedy assasination is similarly enlarged by the Beatles capturing the youth of America.

While these are paltry examples, my point is that arts, including poetry, have always helped fill in the frames of history.  So, going back to your statement that, "Maybe modern poetry seems superior because we are modern readers?", makes an important observation that we tend to see things from the vantage point of our lived experiences. 

To broaden that point just a bit, I well remember that MLK was seen as a radical, and divisive voice in early '60s America, though that image has been quite literally whitewashed.  Some school districts are trying to "modernize" his wrtings/speeches 60 years later.  Is the modern version superior?  Hardly. It will begin to require deeper investigation for coming generations to even try to understand the context in which he originally spoke. 

My main point still being, without knowing the context of a time period, it becomes very difficult to determine that modern poetry is actually superior.  What is modern today, won't be in just a few years. "Superior", to me, remains a matter of personal preference. 

With each new generation, the zeitgeist continues to shift. All that said, I do appreciate that busker stated a definite position to start this discussion.