I recently removed myself from an arts organization which was built for 21 years on the premise that contemporary art remain on the fringe engaging the disenfranchised and the artists who risked all to discover new possibilities. Now the place looks like a remanufactured country club. The state of much poetry in this nation and many arts organizations is that of a retirement center for the significant others of the rich to propogate their sterile sense of effete aesthetics. "The Poets" is about a class of poetry and poets who neither desire to experience the reality of Capitalism's byproducts nor wish to engage elements of society which take them outside the realm of their daily catatonic states. Closed communities for the rich are dreadful reminders of the segregation of the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's and all that followed. As artists, we must walk like Shaman between worlds. But when I go to the local corporate book store I only see an America bent on repeating the clever tricks of the past. I look to the black poets of the 50's and 60's for my inspiration. I hope we never forget. The poet needs to get out of the parlors and cozy reading rooms to walk between worlds. This is what this country needs, to realize that just because we are fiscally sound for the moment does not necessarily preclude the possibility that we are aesthetically bankrupt. We must live with one another and revolt against the hierarchy which sent immigrants to this country in the beginning. We must connect with one another instead of developing communities which perpetrate isolation.
