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Can Americans Love Poetry Again? – A.M. Juster

Poetry has been an essential part of many countries’ popular culture for centuries. Italy, Russia, Iran, Chile, Poland, and Nicaragua are good examples, to name just a few. In these places, professors do not have a monopoly on poetry. Cab drivers, accountants, and salespeople will, often with very little provocation, recite a poem from memory. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar even host lucrative poetry competitions televised in the style of American Idol.

This kind of enthusiasm invariably starts early. When I was 4 years old, my mother would take me out to the front lawn and read poetry to me—mostly A.A. Milne and Dr. Seuss—under our big old tree. A brutal fourth grade teacher almost killed my interest in poetry with a forced march through her haiku unit, but the next year a teacher near retirement, Miss McDermott, made me memorize my first poem and spurred me to write a poem that years later would appear in my high school’s literary journal. Her encouragement was reinforced by a kind children’s librarian, who gave me books to read and eased me into the adult library. 

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