Why God Continues to Make Poets

[Wjames]

People will always consciously sculpt language into something that communicates feelings and emotions and ideas in the best way, even as poetry becomes a less and less 'relevant' medium.

I confess I was disturbed by this thought (the italicized bit in particular), although sadly, I think poetry is fading in relevance in this particular age we find ourselves living through.

I would disagree about "people will always consciously sculpt language into something that communicates feelings....in the best way".   I find it rare to meet someone who speaks in that way, who make any effort to "sculpt" their language.  Maybe I'm just not around enough people, being somewhat isolated.  But I can think of only one or two folks who speak with any kind of eloquence among those I meet in my day to day interactions.  Maybe it's always been that way.

I think it our duty to keep poetry alive in some way, even if it's only a few of us.

I tend to agree with Leonard Cohen's definition of poetry:



There can be poetry in a smile, and no poetry in a poem.

I like art, and the medium isn't all that important to me. Poetry will live on forever as a medium because of its simplicity - anyone who knows language can create and consume it. You do not need paint, or a camera, or an oboe - just thought. 

I think that there is currently more good art being created and distributed than ever before, but the quality of mass media is at an all-time low (with some lovely exceptions). If you're serving a meal for billions of people, you don't want it to be too spicy.

At the same time, the internet has enabled so many people to create and share so many great pieces of art - it can just be difficult to find it in the mess of algorithms etc.