Poetry Keeping Flame Alive

The Denver Post highlights a trend in publishing. That is, poetry is the fastest-growing literary cottage industry.

From the piece...

A few poets, such as Derek Walcott, John Ashbery, Philip Levine, Ed Hirsch and Maxine Kumin, are still published by major trade houses, but the exception proves the rule. Most poets are published by small or university presses, if they are published at all. And given the anemic sales figures and distribution problems of houses like Graywolf, BOA editions, Copper Canyon and Coffee House, it's an open question whether any of them will be around or publishing poetry a decade from now.

Paradoxically, while few people seem to be reading or buying poetry, there has likely never been a time when more people were writing poems, especially because in the age of print on demand virtually anyone with a computer and a rudimentary knowledge of PageMaker can become his or her own publisher.