“Distinctly American poetry is usually written in the context of one's geographic landscape, sometimes out of one's cultural myths, and often with reference to gender and race or ethnic origins.”
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But I am not political in the current events sense, and I have never wanted anyone to read my poetry that way.
I think that's what poetry does. It allows people to come together and identify with a common thing that is outside of themselves, but which they identify with from the interior.
But I don't think that poetry is a good, to use a contemporary word, venue, for current events.
American poetry, like American painting, is always personal with an emphasis on the individuality of the poet.
